Believe It Or Not
by Zuzzeroo
Summary: Emily gets quite a surprise during a Christmas conference. Dasey!
1. Christmas Conferences

_A brand new story for the holidays. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think!_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing but Helena and Marissa._

_Read and Review!_

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For Emily there were about a million things she'd rather do, then come to these business conferences. Shaving her legs with sandpaper or washing her hair with mustard and ketchup, to give you some idea. Just the thought of a long wooden table, water bottles and papers full of notes made her skin crawl. These holiday ones were better, though but not by much.

One of Edmonton's best hotels was holding the conference, and was decorated in your typical, Christmas style. Bright green and red streamers were hung around the pillars while the silver tinsel that gets everywhere, was thrown on all the fake potted plants pilled around the room. It made it look like the Amazon Jungle got vomited on by glitter. A large gold banner with the words "Merry Christmas Editors and Editor Juniors" printed on it was hung over the food tables.

Emily's boss and all the other people on the board decided that the best way to spend the annual "Editor Bash" was to have it include the kids in the area that were wanting to become editors. That way they could talk to real people who worked the job everyday and decide if that's a job that looks interesting to them. In Emily's opinion, it was a load of bullshit that they could throw out there to make themselves look better.

But a free trip to a big city with hundreds of shopping malls with thousands of shoe stores was a hard thing to pass up.

"Who are you picking?"

Emily shifted in her seat, her black curls bouncing, to look around the table for her best friend. Helena had worked with Emily since she started at _Blush and Things_, a small magazine based around make-up products that were natural and good for the skin. It wasn't exactly glamorous, but it paid the bills.

Emily tilted her head. "What are you talking about?"

The strawberry blonde rolled her eyes. "Stop day dreaming. I asked which one of these tykes you're going to go after. Tom is getting ready to head up on stage, and when he does, we all have to match up with one of these kids and talk about our jobs." She shuddered at the thought.

"Worried that they'll find out _you_ don't actually put any effort into your work?" Emily teased, smirking at the girl. Helena just scowled.

"Just for that little comment, _I _shotgun that kid." Helena's long finger nail shot out as she pointed at a short boy with freckles and Harry Potter glasses sitting a few tables away from us. He gulped and gave a little wave in our direction, but Helena was already back looking at me.

Emily scoffed, "You only chose him because he looks smart."

"It doesn't matter why I chose him. It just matters that now, you'll have to choose quickly _and_," She spoke the word with unnecessary volume that cause other editors to glace over at our table before getting back into their own conversations. "There are only girls left."

My eyes opened wide and I scanned the room, looking for some child sitting at a table that I hadn't heard someone call "dibs" on already.

"What about him?" I pointed to a boy at a table on the other side of the room. His blonde hair was getting in his eyes and he kept blowing it back; his arms crossed over his chest and blocking most of the gamer logo that was printed on the shirt.

Helena grinned widely. "Jason from that terrible _Auto Magazine_ already called him."

Sometimes, I really hated her. Helena was very competitive about everything, mostly because she grew up in a very sports centered home. Her older sister, Hannah, was captain of the University volleyball team. Helena did track and participated in basketball when she was attending high school. When she first told me this, I looked at her tiny figure, trapped in a tight skirt and low cut blouse. Her nails done to perfection and hair placed in a neat bun at the top of her head and didn't believe her. But the next day when we happened to be in the washroom at the same time, she stood there when I opened the stall door smiling.

"_I so beat you!" She did a little jump in her high heel shoes, clapping her hands._

_I shot her a look and headed over to the sink. "Beat me at what?"_

"_Going to the bathroom." And with those final words, she turned and walked out. I finished washing my hands before I followed her. I never really understood how we became friends, but ever since that day, she's been the one girl I go to with every crisis I have. It doesn't matter if it's about a guy, our boss or the coffee pot in the lounge that spits up. Helena has an answer for everything._

I glanced around the area once more, scoping out anyone that didn't look taken. See, the thing is, most girls here were in that awkward stage of adolescence and were so immature when it came to this sort of stuff. They ask dumb questions and pop their gum and smile you this smile that looks so fake and forced. Boys at least try to think of polite things to say, when they're not staring at your chest.

"How about her?" The woman to my right, Sophie asked. I peeked over her shoulder at a young girl who had too much lipstick on and a bright green tank top.

"Meh."

"You're going to have to pick eventually, Em. This is what happens when you get out of the race to day drea..." Helena was cut off by loud feedback. I winced, resisting the urge to put my hands over my ears. Tom, a large man who was one of the central people on the board, smiled at us. His large face looked alien in the neon coloured lights booming on to him from the stage. Sweat was on his forehead and he used the back of his sleeve to wipe it off.

"Good-evening editors!"

We all chorused back to him.

"I hope you're all as excited as we are about the new addition to our little annual program. This is such a great opportunity for all the editors in training." He winked at the crowd and Helena and I sunk back into our seats. One of the big flaws of these meetings was that Tom always showed up and flirted with anyone wearing heals and a dress. Disgusting.

"Now, I would like all the editors to sitting at the tables to my right, to make their way up and find an editor-to-be on my left. Sit with them, talk with them, become they're friend, mentor and idol. But most of all have fun and learn a lot. Go get 'em, editors!"

I never understood why he always addressed us as _editors, _we were people too. I felt myself standing up anyways. Miss. Green Tank Top was talking to someone beside her, and I found myself looking around for a hole to jump in. Anything to get me out of this situation.

"Hello, Miss. Davis. You look wonderful, like usual." I smoothed out the bottom of my red, strapless. I felt like grabbing the bottom hem and stretching it out, pass my knees. Why did I let Helena talk me into buying this?

"Hi, Tom." I gave him a quick smile, peering around the room now full of movement, for some sort of escape. That's when I saw her.

"I'm going to go grab some punch." I left Tom standing there with his mouth hanging open like he was about to speak and hastily made my way across the room. I doubted he would follow me, even if he could; his roundness is often his biggest downside.

When I got to the table, the girl was still standing there. Her back was to me, but I could tell she was only in her teens. She was wearing a dark green dress that looked to be quite expensive. But the one thing that I noticed the most, the one thing that really brought me over here, was her hair. Her hair, curled and let down past her shoulders, was the colour of auburn yet warmer, somehow. The same hair that my last, serious boyfriend in high school had. Derek Venturi.

It had been quite a few years since our big graduation where we all wore those tacky caps and gowns. I remember how happy I was back then, what with the perfect boyfriend and popularity finally within my grasp. Then Derek, claiming he didn't do distance, broke it off, saying in the long run, it was better to do it now. I agreed with him at the time, although my heart felt like it was breaking slowly from the inside. I never cried when he told me this, but as soon as I got home, I collapsed on my bed.

I tried talking to Casey about it but she just shrugged it off. _"You're putting me in a tough position, Em. Derek's family and you are my best friend. I don't want to hurt either of you." _I did eventually get over the fact that I would never be Derek's girl. Nevertheless, it's hard when you're in your thirty's, and still haven't been in a real relationship since then. It's the work that keeps me so busy.

"Hello?"

The girl jumped a little before turning around. Her face looked familiar, and I felt an odd twinge when I realized her nose and chin looked a lot like Derek's. The other parts I couldn't pin point who they belonged too, but I did recognize them.

"Oh, hello." She cleared her throat. "I'm not actually part of the _Junior Editor _program; I'm just here for my friend. She didn't want to come by herself."

I gave her my friendliest smile. At least she wasn't a ditz.

"That's alright. I'm Emily."

I held out my hand.

"Marissa."

She took it and we did a brief shake.

"I know you're not in the program but would you mind being my partner? Everyone else seems to be matched up. We don't even need to talk about editing."

Marissa glanced around the room for her friend, I'm assuming, before drowning the last bit of punch in her glass and placing it on the table.

"Sure. Let's go sit down at my table."

I followed her through the crowds of people, to a small table in a back corner. Marissa sat down and I sat across from her.

"Okay," She seized her purse off the floor and reached inside, digging a little before finally pulling out a small notebook and pen. "Since I'm the one suppose to ask questions, would you mind if I just got a background on you first? It would be great to know how you decided that an editor was what you wanted to be and how your childhood growing up affected that choice."

I blinked.

Was she honestly going to take notes?

Marissa nodded at me to start talking so I took a deep breath and swallowed before speaking.

"Well, I was born in Toronto, but when my Dad's job backfired, he found another one that was similar in a smaller community in Ontario. My parents packed everything up, and when I was two, we all moved into London."

Marissa looked up from her writing and gave a half smile. "My Dad was born in London. In fact, my grandparents still live there."

I smiled back at her. This was getting interesting. Maybe meetings weren't so bad after all.

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_The end of chapter one. I hope you all enjoyed it. Merry Christmas! Please review and Santa will put something extra special in your stocking this year! :)_

_xoxoTaraxoxo_


	2. Childhood Stories

_Thanks so much for the great reviews last chapter, everyone. Just to clarify, since this story does take place far into the future. Here are the ages of some of the main characters. _

_Casey: 39 years old. Derek: 39 years old. Emily: 38 years old. Marissa: 15 years old. Nathan: 16 years old. Olivia: 10 years old. Helena: 36 years old._

_Hope you all have a super, Christmas!_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. _

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"So your Dad lived in London, huh?" Emily sipped some of the punch the waiters brought around and looked at the younger girl with curiosity. Marissa was going over some of her notes; the pen was between her teeth as her blue eyes scanned the page.

"Hmm?" Her head lifted up and she shot Emily an apologetic look. "Sorry, I get so caught up in my work that I zone out and the rest of the world falls away."

I grinned at her. "That's all right. I was just saying that your Dad lived in London?"

"Oh," she smiled back, "Yes, that's right. He went to University, got married to my Mom, and had my brother, gradu-".

"You have siblings?"

I don't know why I was so surprised. If Derek got married and had a child, who's to say he would stop at one? He grew up in a big family and then the McDonald's moved in and it was even bigger. He was used to fighting over the bathroom and running all over town to pick everyone up from their various activities. I remember whenever I went over to their house; I would look at their kitchen table and wonder why they needed one that big. But as soon as I actually spent a full day at their house, which includes eating all three meals with them, I realized why. The size of their family was one thing, but all of them, mostly Derek and Casey, demanded a lot of room. It was like some sort of battle between them.

Marissa gave a slow nod. "Yes. Nathan, or Nate, came first. I followed a year after and then six years after Nate was born, they had Olivia." She laughed. "It's kind of funny if you think about it. My name starts with an _M, _Nate's starts with an _N _and of course Livia starts with an _O_."

"Livia?"

"Oh, that's just a nickname. My Dad was against calling her "Liv", saying he would just think of _Arwen_ from _Lord of the Rings _since the actress who plays her is Liv was the only nickname my Mom came up with that he actually liked. He didn't even want to call her that but Mom insisted."

"I would have thought that too." I mentally slapped myself. I had no idea why I just said that; if I was trying not to sound like a desperate ex-girlfriend who was dying to know about her former boyfriend's new family life, then I wasn't doing a very good job. Fortunately for me, Marissa never pressed the matter.

"I probably would have too." She replied and I felt myself breathe a slight sigh of relief.

"Did you know my Dad?" Marissa went on, shooting me a curious look. She had picked up her notebook again and was leaning back slightly in her chair, studying me.

"I think so. What was his name?"

"Derek Venturi."

Even though I had guessed so earlier on, before I had even met her, I still felt my heart start racing at his name. It was a silly reaction, and I pushed down the joyful squeals that were trying to wiggle their way out. I didn't like him anymore; I felt no attraction to him whatsoever. It was just because I had liked him for all of my childhood, living in London, and when he finally kissed me and asked me out, I jumped on the chance. Not about anything else. It was just the old thrill of all of those memories coming back, I told myself. I felt my cheeks go red though when I looked back up at his daughter. Here I was, thinking about the early days, back when I was young and dating her Dad; her Dad that had gotten married to someone else and was still happily married to that someone else. Who the hell was that someone else?

"I know you!" Marissa exclaimed suddenly, dropping her book on the table and clasping her hands together on her lap.

I looked at her confused.

"Yes...I'm, Emily."

"No, no. You're that Emily! My Dad's last high school girlfriend! The Emily who was his neighbour for fifteen years! Right?"

If I was upset before, I was damn heartbroken now. "Yep, that's me."

Obviously Derek had talked about me before. Derek told his kids about our relationship. Did he tell them why he broke up with me? Did he tell them about me being obsessed with him all throughout elementary, middle and high school? Did he make fun of me? Did he even like me anymore?

I swallowed. The look Marissa was giving me, made me think she did know all that stuff. It wasn't a mean look, but just sympathetic. I felt sick. Why did this have to happen to me right around the holidays? Merry Christmas Emily, your ex totally hates you. Yep, this was just perfect. I blinked a couple times, trying hard not to cry. I'm overreacting; I tried to tell myself and forced a smile at Marissa.

"He was always sneaking into my backyard and swimming in my pool."

She laughed and I breathed in and out, in and out, trying to calm myself.

"Did he? He never told me about that."

"I bet he didn't. He trampled over our flower beds when he was trying to escape. See, my parents came home from dinner early one night, I didn't really care if he swam in the pool at all, but they didn't like that he sloshed water everywhere. My Dad heard some odd noise and ran to the backyard. Derek was just jumping the fence; my Mom's tulips were crumpled into the dirt. Then there was this loud rip, as his trunks got caught on the fence. They ripped right through the middle and the butt. He ran back into his house, holding his shorts up. I don't think he looked at my Dad for a year without blushing."

Marissa started laughing even harder, placing her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. Her eyes started to water and she wiped under them, being careful not to smudge her eyeliner or mascara.

"The stuff I have to bug him about now..." She shook her head, still chuckling. "How old was he when this happened?"

I didn't even have to think.

"Just turned twelve, I remember because the week before him and his friends had a big water gun fight in their backyard."

Marissa laughed again.

"That sounds like him. I remember for my eighth birthday party, I had a pool party in our backyard. We were all eating lunch outside, when my Mom brought out the cake. As soon as I blew out the candles, I felt someone grab me, and the next thing I knew, I was being thrown into the pool. When I surfaced, my Dad was standing there with a towel and a wrapped present."

Emily giggled.

"What was the present?"

"This beautiful picture of him, singing me to sleep. He was holding me, sitting in the nursery rocking chair. I think I was barely one at the time."

Emily got a sudden flashback, of the first time she spent in the Venturi home after the McDonalds moved in.

---

_Casey and I were having a movie night, watching all the best chick flicks like The Notebook and Titanic. I was wearing my old puppy pyjamas, munching on extra buttery popcorn, and crying for Leo and Kate. Casey didn't look much better, her whole head was full of wild curls, tears were dripping off her face way worse than Emily. There was a little smear of popcorn butter on her left cheek and on her pink pyjama tank top. _

_There was a thump on the stairs, and both Casey and Emily peeled their eyes away from the screen to look at Derek. He was standing at the top of the stairs wearing a short black denim skirt over his jeans and a sparkly purple top. His hair was curled and full of bright clips while his face was covered with intense make-up._

_I found myself in awe, staring at him with a new found pride. Such a nice brother, to do this for his littlest sister when guests were over, no less. Casey on the other hand stood up and paused the DVD before heading over to the bottom of the stairs. _

"_De-rek!" _

_He slowly came down them, two at a time. I timidly touched my hand to my jaw, making sure my mouth wasn't hanging open. _

"_Why are you wearing my skirt?"_

_I swear he blushed slightly, under all that make-up._

"_I was playing dress up with, Marti. She was all upset because you promised to play with her and then cancelled to invite Emily over instead."_

_Casey hand went to her mouth and her eyes went wide. _

"_I totally forgot."_

_Derek shot her a look._

"_I already guessed that."_

"_Oh, I need to go make it up to her. Can you get her down here? Or I'll just go up the-"_

_Derek's arm shot out to block her path._

"_Nu huh, Spacey. I just got her to fall asleep; I don't need you to go wake her up."_

_She took a step back, away from Derek's arm before crossing her arms over her chest. I felt a sudden shot of sympathy for her. Here the hottest guy in school, was looking at her wearing childlike pyjamas, hair a mess, no make-up...and I was dressed exactly like her._

_My fingers immediately went to my hair, trying to smooth it out, while wiping my cheeks with the back of my hands. Derek and Casey both turned to look at me and I quickly dropped my hands into my lap and tried to keep the heat from my face._

"_Okay, okay." Casey said. "I'll let her sleep and talk to her tomorrow. Gosh, I feel awful."_

_Derek snorted, "Yeah, and you look awful as well."_

_She smacked him, and he called her a grubby bitch and the rest of the evening carried on._

_---_

Derek always did sweet stuff like that for his Smarti; of course he'd do it for his daughter.

"That's so sweet. It sounds like you have great parents."

Marissa gave a small smile and looked up from her lap.

"Yeah I really do."

I had so much more I wanted to ask her. I especially wanted to know who her Mom was, but I knew if I did, I'd sound like some crazy fan girl who wanted to know everything about my interests love, so I pushed the idea out of my head.

"Editors? Hello, Editors!" I looked over to the stage to see Tom waving at us to get our attention. His jacket looked soaked with sweat and I felt my face scrunch up.

"I hope you all had an enjoyable evening, I know I did. All you men look so distinguished and all the ladies...simply ravishing." He winked at Sophie, who was sitting near the stage; I winced along side of her.

"This has been a great experience for all of us. Now I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope the idea of being editor's sounds even more appealing to all you juniors than it did before. Goodnight all!"

There was feedback with the mic again before it made one loud pop and shut off.

"This has been a really nice evening, thank you."

I turned back to Marissa and grinned.

"Yeah it has. It was super meeting you; you seem like a really good girl with a great head on her shoulders."

"Thanks. I was awesome meeting you, too. It would be nice to get together later on and talk some more. I'd love to hear some more funny stories about my Dad."

"How about tomorrow?" I suggested.

"Can't. I fly back home tomorrow. Here, let me just give you my email."

She wrote it down on one of the blank pages in her notebook and handed it to me.

"Bye, Emily."

"Bye, Marissa. Talk to you soon."

I felt odd as I left the building. Not like a relief of knowing what happened to an old friend of mine, a relief of knowing his life turned out okay, but more like a head filled with way more unanswered questions than I started with. I had several matters I had to ask Helena about, and several things I had to research. I chuckled a little. It feels like I'm back in high school.

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_Please review and have a very Merry Christmas! God Bless!_

_xoxoTaraxoxo_


	3. Humble Home

_Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews! I'm totally floored by all the amazing people on this site. It's a huge community of crazy Dasey lovers. _

_Also, on a little off note, Ashley Leggat's official myspace is www. myspace .com / ashley leggat online. But with no spaces. Anyways, she posted some pictures from the set of the Vacation with Derek movie. Jordan looks so different! Anyways, I suggest going and checking it out._

_Disclaimer: I own zip._

_Please Read and Review!_

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Marissa gave a weak wave at the taxi, zipping her jacket a little tighter around herself as the cold December air whipped around through the yard. The moon shone brightly in sky and turned the snow into a pale grey, the porch light shone down the empty drive way, creating a spot light where she stood. A dog barked somewhere in the distance and the young girl quickly bent down to grab her bags and jogged up to the front steps before dropping them impulsively on the cold stone steps. Carefully avoiding the slick layer of ice that covered them, she reached for the small brown flower pot full of frozen dirt that looked out of place on the porch of the cold Canadian home. Marissa lifted it up to grab the small silver key hidden underneath it.

"It's open!" She jumped at the voice that called from inside the house. It was probably her Dad. Figures, she thought with a roll of her eyes, he won't open the door for me, but yells instead. Slipping the key and flower pot back into their usual spot, she stomped to shake the snow off her boots before opening the large, front door.

Throwing her bags inside, she stepped in after them, scrunching up her nose as the warm air hit it. The blue glow from the TV was on in the living room to her left, so she headed in. Derek Venturi looked up at her from the sleek leather couch her Mom practically begged him to buy because his old recliner didn't go with the freshly painted walls. The Television remote was in one hand, cup of coffee in the other; he was wearing his old grey shirt and faded blue plaid pyjama bottoms, legs stretched out on the coffee table.

"You're back later than I thought you were going to be."

Marissa flopped down on the couch beside him, grabbing the coffee cup out of his hands and taking a little sip. She stretched out, placing her feet beside her Dad's on the coffee table in front of her. She reached behind her head to pull out her ponytail since it was falling out anyways.

"I told you my flight was getting in late. It's only," I looked at the clock on the TV screen, "11:09pm; I got back early than I thought I would. My suitcases were the first ones on the carousal." She turned to look at her Dad, shooting him a sour look. "Thanks for picking me up, by the way."

Derek raised his hands up, trying to look apologetic or defensive. Marissa was never sure.

"I made sure there would be a cab waiting for you." He whined.

The young girl shook my head at him. "Not the same thing, Daddy." And with that, they both entered a comfortable silence.

Marissa took another sip of the coffee before handing it back to him and extending her legs farther on the table. Leg room, or the lack of it, was one of the reasons she never liked plane rides. She felt the embarrassment from a couple days ago flash through her as she contemplated her trip. The worst part of the whole trip was going through those stupid metal detectors. I really need to remember not to wear bras with the wire in them; so embarrassing. Mom would laugh when she heard about it. Marissa shuddered as she thought this, trying to distract herself from the terrible memories. The family pictures on the walls, the Kleenex box on the coffee table, covered with green and red ladybugs. All so normal, yet something was out of place.

When it hit her, what was so odd about this picture, she turned to look at Derek. Here was Dad, sitting on the couch drinking coffee, which he never does this late, and channel surfing. He never channel surfs, it's like a huge "no" in his books. He can't even be in the same room if one of us our channel surfing. So why was he doing it? Why was he channel surfing?

"What's up?" He asked, once he caught me staring at him.

"Why are you channel surfing?"

He raised his eyebrows, taking the last swig of coffee before leaning forward and placing the empty mug beside out feet, on the end table.

"Is that a crime?"

"No, it's just weird because you never do it. You hate it..." Realization dawned on me and I gave my Dad a slow, smirk that looks very similar to his own. One of the many things I got from him. "Were you waiting up for me?"

"Nope." He said it so matter-of-factly and turned back to the cheesy soap opera that was on. I felt my face drop. Ouch. My Dad must have seen the look on my face, because he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him.

"I'm am waiting up, but not just for you. I'm waiting for two of my favourite three girls. Now that you're home I only have to wait for your Mom. " Derek was never good with words, but I got the message.

I thought over what he told me and suddenly remembered the empty drive way.

"Where's Mom?" I demanded, panic flooding through me. Mom was never out this late by herself, leaving Dad sitting at home looking all anxious and channel surfing. Something was up.

"She's not in any trouble." He reassured me, grabbing the remote off the cousin beside him and turning the two women fighting over a blue top, off.

"Then where is she?" Dad looked a little hesitant.

"Promise you won't tell? I know your Mom wants to share the news, but I'll tell you now if you keep it a secret and still act surprised."

"I promise." I whispered. He smiled that little smile that only happened when he was talking to Nathan, Olivia or I. Mom said it's just because he's so excited that he has such wonderful kids, but I figured that that was a "Mom Saying" and didn't look much into it.

"Okay, the real reason I never picked you up was because Mom got a call last night from Edwin, saying Lizzie had gone into labou-"

"Auntie Lizzie had her baby?" I bounced up and down slightly, smiling. Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Edwin had been trying for quite a long time, to have another baby. Alex was seven now, so when they shared the news with him, that he would be a big brother soon, I remember how happy he looked. I remember how happy we all looked.

My Dad shot me an annoyed look. I recalled how much he hates when people interrupt him in the middle of a story, so I ran my finger over my lips, and threw the invisible key over my shoulder. He smiled that smile again, before clearing his throat and continuing.

"I'm assuming so and before you ask, I don't know if it's a boy or a girl. Your Mom left in such a hurry last night and I had no idea how it was going to go or when she would be coming back that I really didn't want to leave Nate home alone late at night with Livia, so that's why I called the taxi. Casey called an hour ago, though, and told me she was just leaving the hospital and should be back around midnight. That's all she said."

I nodded my head, glancing out the window, almost wishing my Mom's car would appear on the driveway. The nice part about living a little out of town was that you could see headlights from quite a ways off. Sadly, the only light I saw was from the bright moon and stars as they twinkled at us from up above.

"Did she say how it all went?"

My Daddy sighed, turning to look out the window with me. The look in his eyes was sad and a little scary. He wanted my Mom home too, really badly.

"No, but I assume it went alright if she's coming home now. If there were any major complications she would have stayed behind to help." That made sense. When Auntie Lizzie had had Alex it was an emergency caesarean.

---

_I remember sitting in the hard waiting room chairs, colouring in my colouring book; I was eight at the time. Daddy was sitting next to me holding a small, sleeping Olivia. Nate was sitting on a chair across from us playing his game boy. Uncle Ed kept pacing back and forth, looking restless. Daddy finally told him to sit down, since his constant jerky movement was stirring Livia; my little sister always took a long time to fall asleep, it was an exhausting thing for all of us to go through, especially more than once._

_When he did take a seat his leg was still bouncing up and down, like it didn't know he had stopped walking. I placed my little hand on his knee, trying to get him to stop moving. It was very distracting when you're colouring. Uncle Ed turned to look at me and smiled, it looked a little funny though, since it never reached his eyes. _

_I remember I was just reaching for the pink crayon, when Auntie Lizzie's door burst open. Mommy came out first and darted towards us. Several other nurses followed her. No one was saying anything, but they were all moving pretty fast._

"_Lizzie needs an emergency caesarean." Uncle Ed looked up from the floor and immediately began shaking his head, whispering "No" over and over again. Daddy looked sick, and held Livia a little tighter. Someone called her, so Mom placed a kiss on all our foreheads before heading back into the room. I had no idea what she was talking about, but it sounded bad. I abruptly didn't feel like colouring any more, and threw my crayons back into the box. I laid my head on my Daddy's arm and squeezed my eyes shut as I prayed, asking God to please keep my Auntie from dying._

"_I can't stay here." Uncle Ed stood up and almost knocked the chair down. My Daddy started to protest but he held up his hand."I'm just going to take a walk, bro. I'll be a mess if you just leave me sitting here."_

_Daddy nodded understandably though he still looked a little of out-of-place, too me. My Daddy was never good in hospitals. "Go. I'll call you when they get the kid out." Daddy gave his weird laugh, whenever he was trying to be funny. It must have been a bad joke, because no one laughed._

_I watched my Uncle put on his jacket. Nate came and sat by me, his video games forgotten. He looked a little shaken and I wondered if he knew what Mommy was talking about. I would ask him later. Uncle Ed turned to look at my Dad as he zipped up his coat._

"_You have no idea how lucky you are, Derek. You and Casey have three beautiful children. " He gestured to us and then he walked out._

_Of course, Alex was born and it all went smoothly after that. Daddy called Uncle Ed back as soon as they heard the good news. Uncle Ed came running back so fast, he ran to Auntie Lizzie and gave her a huge kiss. She was sort of funny though, all drugged up, Daddy said and Mommy smacked him for it. Baby Alex was tiny and red and made gurgling noises when he wasn't crying. He didn't look that much like my dolls but I still thought he was pretty cute._

_---_

My Dad looked anxious back then, and he looked anxious now. I can grasp why now; he loves Auntie Lizzie as a sister and I would be scared for my sister too, if she had to go through something like that. And my Dad was lucky, my Mom had all of us fairly easily, she was only in labour with Olivia for five hours.

"Why don't you go to bed?" I turned to look at my Dad.

"But I want to stay up and wait for Mo-"

"Bed time, Mar. You look exhausted, and Mom will tell you all the dirty details tomorrow morning, you know that."

I sighed. I hated how my parents did this. It was probably because my Dad hadn't seen my Mom for a day and was missing her like crazy, which was sweet and all, but I detested being sent to bed.

"Fine. You're just doing this so you and Mom can make-out when she gets home."

He stuck his tongue out at me and I laughed. I stood up, straightening out my sweat pants and grabbing his coffee cup to take to the kitchen. I was just about to leave when he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down for a quick hug.

"I missed you, Mar. Don't leave your poor, old man again."

I gave him a disbelieving look.

"For more than three days, then."

"That's better." I smiled and kissed my Dad's cheek before standing up.

"I missed you too. Night, love you."

"Love you too." He turned back to the TV, grabbing the remote. I rolled my eyes as I left the room.

I walked quietly up the stairs, trying not to make too much noise. I passed my sister's door first. It was open a crack, like usual, and I slipped inside. I missed the little girl like crazy. Her never ending energy and constant stealing my clothes was something I had gotten so use to, that I missed it when it wasn't there. I walked up to the _Tinkerbell_ bed, trying not to step on any of the dolls she had lying around. I picked a small, purple bunny up off the floor where it had fallen out of the bed, and placed it beside her.

She was sleeping so soundly, her little hands under her head, dark brown hair spread out over her pillow. Olivia looked exactly like my Mom, it was almost scary sometimes. Nathan had my Mom's hair and nose, but looked more like my Dad with everything else. I had my Dad's hair and chin but all my other features, especially my eyes, were exactly like my Mom.

I kissed the top of her head and crept out of the room, I didn't have the heart to wake her. I walked past my brother's room, and saw light shinning out from under the door. I knocked quietly and entered, closing the door shut behind me.

"Hey Da...Oh, it's you."

I rolled my eyes and picked my way across his messy floor. He was sitting at his computer, playing some odd game. I stood behind him, watching the characters dash around, the swords in their hands waving wildly.

"What game is this?" I questioned, picking up the box on his desk.

"_Death March II, Revenge of the Ghouls."_

I placed the box back down and wrinkled my nose. "Sounds lovely."

Nate smirked. "Oh it is...Die you stupid, little..._Die_..._Damn it_!"

I chuckled quietly. "Do you always play games like this?"

"Do you always have to be in my room?"

I shrugged "I'm not always in your room." I replied.

I watched him click on some things and then the screen whizzed to a different scene. A large room filled with leather couches that were full of tiny girls wearing tight armour bikinis.

"Eww, Nate. Gross. Mom and Dad let you buy this?"

"Correction, Dad let me buy this. Mom knows nothing about it." He paused the game and turned around so he was looking right at me. "See, I told you it was lovely."

I smacked his shoulder and he turned back to his game.

"You better hope I don't tell her."

"Goodnight, Marissa." Nate pointed to his bedroom door over his shoulder, eyes glued to the screen. He always got annoyed quickly.

"Night, Nate." I said just as snarky as I made my way across the floor.

I closed his door and walked down the hall to the door covered with _Orlando Bloom _and _Alex Pettyfer_ pictures. I opened it, breathing in the sweet smell of oranges, the scent of my body spray. I never even bothered to change in pyjamas; in fact, I don't even remember getting to my bed. I just crumpled down into the sheets, yawning as I reached over to flick off my lamp.

* * *

_Review please!_

_xoxoTaraxoxo_


	4. Lists

_Thanks once again for the wonderful reviews. I reread each and everyone and they mean so much to me. Thanks again!_

_This chapter is back to Emily. It's one of the most important chapters in the story so I hope you enjoy it. _

_Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own characters._

_Read and Review_

* * *

"Bonjour, Emily! Comment ca-va?"

Emily rolled her eyes at her friend and opened the door wider.

"You've been spending more time with Antoine, I take it?"

Helena strode inside the apartment, slipping off her scarf and gloves and placing them on the table right beside the entry way. She shook the little bits of snow out of her hair and Emily watched the little flakes flutter to the floor.

"You could say that." Helena winked and Emily smirked at her friend's enthusiasm, closing the door shut.

"Is he 'The One'?"

Helena turned to look at her friend incredulously.

"Emily, why go after just 'one' when the whole world is at your finger tips, a jam-packed selection of gorgeous hunks waiting for you to find them."

"That's sort of sad, you know."

Helena snorted as she made her way into Emily's tiny living room. The couch was enveloped with various papers that were covered with sparkly, pink penmanship. The floor around the sitting area was full of various stacks of notebooks. Yearbooks and photo albums were spread out over the coffee table, beside them, was a large pizza box and a tub of chocolate ice cream.

"Jeez, Emily. The sad thing is that the only guy you've had in this apartment of yours in a year, is that fat gold fish you have, Norman." They both looked over to the corner of the room where the plump fish was floating in his fishbowl. Norman burped and bubbles escalated to the surface.

Emily grimaced. "That's not true."

Helena's hand went to her hip, her slick blue designer jacket rising up, exposing the silk tank top underneath. No matter how many times Emily told her friend this was a simple girl's night, Helena still dressed like she was a step away from going on _David Letterman _or the red carpet.

"Family members don't count, Em. Your dating life is like an old balloon. It slowly falls from the ceiling and gets all wrinkly before it fades away."

Emily sighed heavily. She hated when Helena started commenting on her love life, it always made it seem so much worse than it actually was. She was totally fine, completely down with rocking the single life.

"Can we just start now, Helena?"

Helena tilted her head, looking at her with a hint of reservation. She dropped the subject though and made her way over to the couch. Emily gave a small smile and followed her friend. Brushing some loose papers onto the floor, Helena situated herself amongst Emily's many throw pillows. Tucking her legs underneath her, Emily grabbed a list off the floor and sat now beside her.

"Alright, so I've made a list of what we need to be looking for and...Helena? Helena are you even listening to me?"

Helena was scanning all the books and papers around her, a sort of awed expression on her face.

"I know you said you began your researching during your youth. But this...you researched the hell out of your youth! How much did you detail these? It's just...wow."

Emily laughed at her Helena's bewildered expression.

"What can I say? Emily Davis always gets the scoop."

"How did you sort these?"

"By year, I started keeping track of everything that went on when I was in grade four. Those aren't very pretty, I had terrible penmanship, but by grade ten they actually got extremely detailed and more specific.

Helena just nodded her eyes wide as she took in all the notebooks, stacked in piles. Parts of Emily's life filled these pages, what she saw, heard, thought. Helena always found writing down parts of her life to be a bit odd, the one reason she was an editor for a magazine that was just about natural beauty. Shaking her head slightly to get herself out of the trance, Helena turned back to Emily.

"Okay, what's all on this list of yours?"

Emily looked down. "I need to find some woman who was with me during my youth, liked to dance, has blue eyes and enjoys shopping."

"This is what, Marissa told you?"

Emily nodded.

"Shit...Emily you do know you've just described every teenage girl in North America right? Probably some in Europe too, possibly Asia and Australia."

"Not all of them have blue eyes."

Helena turned to Emily, shaking her head violently. Her delicate pony tail started coming loose but she ignored it.

"Emily." Helena folded her hands in her lap as she spoke to her friend, her expression serious. "Why didn't you just _ask _Marissa who her Mother was? It would make all of this a whole lot easier. You're driving yourself insane over someone you last saw when you were eighteen! Look," Helena leaned over and opened the pizza box. "Extra cheese with pepperoni? What has gotten into you? What happened to the simple, thin crust Hawaiian? You're losing it, Emily." Helena's arm made a grand sweeping motion of the room. "There are not even any Christmas decorations in this room. I know you said you go home for the holidays, but you usually decorate a little."

Emily looked down at her list, hands shaking with rage and frustration.

"I couldn't just ask her. When she accused me of being 'Emily, her Dad's ex-girlfriend' she looked at me with pity. She looked at me like she knew exactly what I felt, exactly what I was thinking. I didn't want her to go home and tell Derek. She'd make it sound like I'm some desperate loser."

Helena wrapped and arm around Emily's shoulder.

"Honey, you're not a loser."

Emily lifted her head.

"But am I desperate?"

Helena grabbed the forgotten list and slid down to the floor so she was sitting directly in front of one of the largest stacks.

"Let's get to work." She responded, avoiding the question.

---

"This isn't working, Helena."

Emily was slumped down on the couch, a pile of notebooks on her lap from her fifth grade year. Helena had her knees up, back against the couch. She was eating a piece of pizza, after Emily finally convinced her it wasn't going to do anything to her figure, and looking at one of the notebooks that Emily had written in sixth grade.

"I think we're going about this the wrong way."

Emily sat up slightly, shifting the pile of books off of her. She peeked out her window and felt her mood drop as she looked at the dark skies. Day light never lasted long during a Canadian winter. By 4:30pm, the sun was already setting, the tall buildings of Toronto getting left in darkness. Well, they still had light, but no happy, warm light, just the depressing man-made kind.

"You think we're starting too early in my childhood? Should we move to the beginning of high school?"

Helena contemplated this.

"Well, yes, I guess so. But I was thinking that we need some really good punch, spiked of course, to go with the pizza. If you're going to eat greasy pizza, why not go all out?"

Emily threw a throw pillow at her friend's head. It bounced off and bumped into one of her grade seven piles, scattering the bright pink and purple notebooks everywhere.

"I ask for your help, Helena and all you do is make jokes and eat _my_ pizza."

"Technically, I wasn't joking about the punch."

"Helena." Emily groaned in defeat.

"Alright, alright." Helena ate the last bite of her pizza before turning towards the couch, sitting so she was on her knees. "If you're positive you knew her, then you must have some more recent memories of her, so I'm willing to bet she went to your high school. There's also a good chance her and Derek were an item at some point during that time. Do you have any books that are full of just the relationships of students or-"

Emily cut her off by grabbing a red notebook with bright yellow sunflowers on the cover. The words _Dating Stats of Grade 11 _were scrawled on the top in neat handwriting. Helena squinted. "That isn't your writing style?"

"I know. My friend, Casey wrote it for me, you know, the one I told you all about? She was my head assistant for getting all the gossip. She was dating the football quarterback at the time I started this, so she knew everything about the cheerleaders, the players themselves. She ran with the popular crowd for a...short amount of time."

Helena started to flip through it.

"None of these pages have anything about Derek in them. Do you have a book that is just about him?"

Emily was already ahead of her. Digging through one of the piles, she grabbed a thick, navy blue coil notebook. It was enormously vast, with sticky notes and loose paper falling out of it. The cover was ripped in some places and it looked as if someone had put a hot cup of coffee on it, for the rings were still there. An old _Oilers _stick was stuck in the top left corner, but it was already coming off, the glue not wanting to stick anymore.

"This is what you're looking for."

Helena held out her hands and Emily dropped the book in her hands. It was rough to touch and probably weighed a couple pounds.

"Good Lord...This is all about his relationships? How early does this start?"

"When he was in grade two. That's the year he started his dating cycle."

"What happened in grade one?" Helena snorted, making a joke.

"He was only making out with girls then." Emily answered, yawning. Reading always made her tired. "Here," she reached down and plucked the book from Helena's hand. "Starting on page 108 is the index. Then on page 156 is the list of all the girls he dated in grade eleven and twelve. Would that be a good place to start?"

Helena gave a stiff nod. "What's on all the other pages?"

"Just little memos and recordings of his relationships and what the girls say about him, where he took them on dates, kissing scale. That sort of thing. Most relationships for him lasted a week, two at the most so I only had to use no more than four pages to write about one of his...women before they were dumped and gone."

Helena looked at the thick volume in her hands, filled with pieces of a man's life she had never met. His relationships, other people's thoughts on him. It was an unsettling sort of dirty feeling, like she was invading in on this poor man's world, but she flipped to the page number Emily told her and began to read out loud.

"Wendy Hampton... Kailey Jackson... Irene Winters...Polly Ester," Helena began to laugh. "That is hilarious! Was that actually her name? Polly Ester? Man," she wiped beneath her eyes. "She must have loved clothes and fabrics!"

Emily joined into the laughter too, remembering the time she had made the exact same joke to Casey when she had first moved into the Venturi's home. Helena took a couple of deep breaths to get herself back under control before she advanced further down the list.

"Rachel Gates... Kyle Fox...Whoa, whoa, whoa. Kyle?"

"Girl Kyle."

"Ah."

Helena continued. "Fay Douglas... Jenna Simmons... Emestina Brühland," Helena looked up and gave a smug grin.

"See, I'm not the only one interested in foreign_ affairs, _Em."

"Shut up and read."

"Kendra...I've always hated that name. I knew three Kendra's and they were all annoying, stuck-up bitches. Is this, Kendra any better? I bet you five bucks plus seven pennies she's not."

Giving a short laugh, Emily shook her head.

"Amy Daniels?"

"Cheerleader."

"I hated them too."

"Helena, you hated everyone unless they ran races or threw orange balls around, trying to get them in nets."

A beat.

"Did not." Emily looked up towards the ceiling, fighting the urge to get up and leave. Helena could be so damn difficult sometimes, as well as never knowing when to stop talking. One of the many traits Emily often questioned why she put up with, but then again, Helena always got dished out the best gossip. Plus she was good with this sort of boy stuff.

"Sally Todd? There's a star sticker beside her name. Why is there a star sticker beside her name? Why does the star sticker have sunglasses and a smile?"

"She was Derek's longest girlfriend. She loved him, got him to write a song for her and I'm pretty sure he loved her too."

Helena swallowed, obviously catching the hint of sadness in her friend's voice. Luckily for Emily, she kept her mouth shut and just reached for another piece of pizza.

"Hannah Jenks... Laura McLeod and Emily Davis." Helena's voice went quiet and she closed the book silently, avoiding looking back at her friend.

Emily gave a large sigh, kicking the remaining books to the floor. They landed with a thud, in a heap beside Helena. No one said any words, not even when Helena began to place everything back into their original piles. It was an awkward, tense silence that lasted for a good couple of minutes. Helena wasn't really sure why Emily was acting like this, and she was just about to voice this when two legs swung down to her right. Emily reached and grabbed the tub of ice cream. She flipped open the lid and grabbed a spoon from beside the container before flopping back on the couch.

Helena slowly grabbed the other spoon and cleared her throat.

"Willing to share?"

---

The atmosphere had changed so dramatically since the afternoon when Helena had walked through the front door. Emily felt like Derek had broken up with her all over again and wanted nothing more than a friend's shoulder to cry on and tons of movies with _Matthew McConaughey_ in them. Girl stuff that would help soothe the broken heartedness she felt now. God, what the hell was wrong with her? She wasn't seventeen any more. Derek was married and had three children who were all smart, successful and happy.

Helena had moved up on to the couch with her, the tub of ice cream wedged between them as the sorted through the list one more time, often comparing with Emily's graduating year book to see if anything matched.

"Jenna Simmons," Helena's fingered the name and watched as Emily quickly flipped to the right page in her yearbook. Smiling faces in tacky blue robes flashed by at lightning speed before Emily slammed her hand down on the page, stopping the hurried flipping. Her eyes began scanning the rows of pictures.

"Da dum da dum...Ah ha! Here she is. Jenna Simmons. Oh, but she has brown eyes. It's can't be her."

Helena made a slightly tired sound and looked back at her list.

"Is this German chick even in here?"

Emily thought for a moment.

"I don't think so. Besides, she had blue eyes and blonde hair."

Helena looked up, hopeful.

"So it could be her?"

"I doubt it. Her face was all wide and chubby. Marissa had a small, smooth face. They look nothing alike."

"Well that sucks." Helena stood up, stretching her arms above her head as she made her way over to the kitchen. "If you don't mind, since it's like," she checked her wrist watch, "6:30pm. I'm going to call and order us some more pizza since you ate it all."

Emily stood up as well. "I'm pretty sure _you_ were the one stuffing her face. Besides, I thought it wasn't good because of all the cheese and meat and greasy fat..." she trailed off with a smile on her face.

"Okay, okay!" Helena broke down, her face crumpling and her hand shot out, stopping Emily from saying any more. "It doesn't taste half bad. You...were right and I was...wrong."

Helena shot her a serious look. "But it still isn't healthy and I'm not eating this kind whenever we order pizza. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Great." Helena looked as if everything was far from great, especially having to admit she was wrong and someone else was right, which was something she never did very often. "Now what pizza joint did you order that bad boy from?" The phone was already in her hand.

"_Pizza Hut. _Duh. Like I always do."

---

After two pizza boxes, a tub of ice cream and seven bottles of water, the girls were back in their positions on the couch. Yearbooks were spread out in front of them and papers were scattered everywhere. It looked as if a paper shredder, garbage can and a book shelf had all unexpectedly thrown up, Emily thought. Even Norman was swimming around angrily, circling the pen cap that had plummeted down into his tank. Emily noticed as soon as it happened and reached inside, grabbing it before it could work her poor fish up into a dither.

"I swear that fish acts like he is the high king of goldfish land or something."

"Helena...he just has an attitude problem, that's all. He's also isn't good at making new friends, I think he ate the algae eater I put in here a couple of weeks ago."

Helena looked at Norman who was still circling the now empty water where the pen cap use to be.

"Don't fish have a three second attention span?" Emily gave a weak shrug. "Maybe he thinks a lot in those three seconds."

Just then they both heard a clunk ring through the room. Emily and Helena both tilted their heads slightly as they took in the picture in front of them. Norman had apparently spun around so fast that he smacked head first into the glass of his tank. He was now sort of floating there with a dazed expression on his face, like he was seeing stars above his head spinning round and round.

"I'm not even going to comment on this." Helena said.

"I'm with you on that." Emily grabbed the yearbook. "Now who did we leave off with?"

"Well let's look up...Sally. She was his longest girlfriend after all, according to the stupid smiling star sticker."

"Sally isn't in here either." Emily tapped the cover of the book thoughtfully. "She was a year older than us to begin with, and Casey told me of this weird fear she has of clothes hangers and high heels. It's so strange, like you won't know strange until you've heard it!

Helena gave her a blank stare.

"She doesn't like shopping." Emily clarified.

"Just because she doesn't like spending money on 'Polyester'," Helena chuckled. "Doesn't mean her daughter does too. She could totally love it and spend all her Mom's money while Sally sulks in the background."

"Except, Sally's eyes are green."

Helena threw up her hands in exasperation.

"Do you know anyone with blue eyes?"

Emily gave her a small smile and thumbs up.

"You, Casey, Kendra, that Amy Daniels girl."

Helena's eyes widened and her head snapped back down to the list of Derek's girls.

"Kendra!"

Emily's fingers were already searching for the right page and when she finally found it, she said a little victory cheer. Helena slipped the book from her hands to get a better look. She squinted as she tried to read the tiny paragraph under Kendra's picture, leaning forward on the couch so she could get better light.

"_Kendra Mason__. Interests include clothes, music, shoes and mascara. Has attended dance class since she started high school and has a high interest in interior designing. We know, Kendra will move on to great things. Congratulations on graduating!"_

Helena threw the book back at Emily, giving a little clap. Emily ducked and it smacked the pillow beside her.

"We found her, Emily! The new Mrs. Derek Venturi!"

Emily never joined in with the clapping and just looked at her friend. Helena slowly caught on to the fact that she was the only one excited.

"Why are you not clapping?"

"Derek would never date her again, let alone marry her."

"You don't know that for sure. A lot could have changed over the years."

"She called him 'Der-bear'."

Helena's face fell into a frown and she dropped her hands into her lap, folding them together.

"I see your point. No guy would enjoy that pet name." She was quiet for a moment before she lifted her head to beam towards her friend. "But it says here she liked to dance!"

Emily snorted.

"If you want to call what she did, dancing? To me it looked like some kind of bizarre tribal mating ritual. I know people who stopped going to school dances because of her. She always dressed like she was some easy, STI that was just begging to fall on some unsuspecting boy."

Helena's face scrunched up in a sour look. "I _hated_ girls like that."

"I know. You've only told me about a million times." Emily answered, bumping shoulders with her friend.

"What about that last one? Amy or whatever? She was a cheerleader so she obviously liked to dance, plus she probably owned an entire store full of wardrobe."

"She broke up with Derek, though." Emily replied, shaking her head.

"Yes, but she could have gone after him again."

"Nah. She broke up with him because all he did was talk and complain about his step-sister, Casey. She told me later on, it was like being in a relationship with the two of them and not even knowing it."

Helena looked completely shocked, mouth hanging open and eyed wide. It was the kind of look that you get when you realize the car keys you spent the whole morning looking for were exactly right under your nose the whole time.

"What?" Emily waved her hand in front of her friends face. "What's wrong? Hello? Earth to Helena, come in, Helena?"

But the girl made no sound. She just started to turn over pages in the yearbook, hands shaking so badly Emily wondered how she could even hold on to a page at all.

"I remember reading something earlier..." Helena was biting her lip in concentration. Emily felt so confused at her friend's antics, that all she could do was look down at her last high school yearbook and try to figure out what had her friend so shocked.

Helena must have found what she was looking for because she stopped turning pages and lifted the book up so Emily could see it too. She swallowed loudly before reading.

"_Casey McDonald. Interests include dancing, writing and world history. Has been in every school drama production since she moved to London. We know our Valedictorian will move on to great things. Congratulations on graduating!"_

And as both women looked at the picture of a pretty, dark haired and bright blue eyed young girl, Emily felt her throat tighten. It all just matched so perfectly. The way Casey looked and the way she acted compared to the way Marissa looked and acted. She just _knew _that this was Mrs. Derek Venturi, and by the look on Helena's face she knew it as well.

---

It was 1:29am and Helena had long gone home. Emily was still sitting in the living room, surrounded by all her notebooks and looking at the graduation photo of Casey. Emily tried to pretend that Marissa didn't share any of her features, that they were nothing alike. And for the first time in her whole life, Emily Davis began regretting her love of research.

_

* * *

_

_Well, if it wasn't clear before, I hope you all know now. Yes, Casey is Marissa's Mother and the wife of Derek Venturi. Please review and let me know what you think. Happy New Year!_

_xoxoTaraxoxo_


	5. Venturi Blood

_Happy New Year! This chapter is fresh from the oven with a little hint of Dasey on top. Hope you all like it._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

_Read and Review!_

* * *

"Okay," Casey told her daughters as she drove their new, glossy SUV into the supermarket parking lot, carefully avoiding the row of shopping carts situated in the middle of the large paved area. Derek would kill her if she scratched the precious paint job on the new car he bought. "We have exactly one hour to buy everything on this list before we have to pick up the boys from Nathan's hockey practice."

Casey held up a piece of green, lined paper that they kept on the fridge with magnets, for anyone to write what they wanted to be bought by the _Venturi Women Shopping Express _as Derek called them.

"I still don't understand why every Wednesday is always the grocery shopping day." Marissa grumbled as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Because," Casey answered reaching into the back seat by Olivia to grab the cloth grocery bags. "Wednesday is the day the boys 'oh so conveniently' have hockey practice all afternoon so there is no possible way for them to help us shop. And, as I heard this morning from your Dad," Casey tilted her chin down and began talking in a very deep, mockery of her husband's voice. "The fridge is empty, the pantry is bare and the food in the house, besides that veggie stuff of yours, has disappeared. Buy more, woman."

Olivia giggled in the back seat, kicking her little feet and clapping her hands. At the age of ten she still acted like a little princess sometimes, but Casey and Derek passed it off as her being the youngest, not that she was spoiled or anything...right?

"Dad would be so proud, Mom. That's the second time you've made fun of someone in the last twenty four hours." Marissa commented.

Casey just gave her daughter a cheeky grin. "What can I say? I'm a daring soul."

Marissa just rolled her eyes and sent her Mom a small smile.

"I hope you hit him for calling you woman."

Casey gave her oldest daughter a serious nod. "I punched him really hard, right in the mouth. Then I batted my eyelashes at him, leaned in really slowly and kissed it all better."

Marissa shuddered. "Why do I always walk into those?"

Casey just laughed, unbuckling herself and opening the car door. "Let's just go get the cavemen their grub."

---

The supermarket was warm and smelt of candy canes as the three Venturi's entered, stomping their boots on the already soaking floor. Casey stopped pushing the cart she had grabbed outside and looked at the floor with a frown on her face.

"This is dangerous, someone could slip. Why is there no one cleaning this mess up? We should go get the mana-"

"Mom." Marissa placed a hand on her Mom's arm, shaking it slightly. "We only have an hour."

"You're right, I guess. Let's get moving." Casey still looked hesitant as she pushed the cart slowly away from the door, carefully stepping over offensive puddles of melted snow and ice. Olivia grabbed on to one side of the cart and Marissa grabbed onto the other, both of them pulling the cart at a faster pace away from the disaster of a floor.

"Come on, Mom." Olivia whined. Casey opened her mouth to reply, when she heard a snobby voice behind her.

"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Venturi." They all turned to look at an older woman leaving the store, her husband in tow. Marissa squinted, trying to recognize where she'd seen the woman before.

Casey flashed her most polite smile, nodding to the older woman.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Mrs. Quail."

Mrs. Quail motioned for her husband and they both left the store, heads held high. Marissa turned to her Mom. "Who was that? I think I've seen them before."

Casey's head tipped down so she could whisper in her daughter's ear. "She's the Mother of that one captain. You know the one with the nice eyes? I think he plays on a team in the states but he's from Calgary originally. Anyways, Dad played against him a while back and beat her son's team. That's where we met them."

Marissa made a noise or recognition. "He does have nice eyes."

Casey gave a dreamy smile. "Mmhmm. He sure does."

Olivia looked over at her sister and Mom. "You better hope I don't tell, Dad you think he has nice eyes."

Casey looked down at her youngest, shaken out of her daydream, and raised an eyebrow; steering the cart towards the produce section.

"If you did that, little girl, I would have to take and sell all those presents of yours under the tree."

Olivia's little eyes widened and her bottom lip stuck out into a pout. "Not fair."

"Just think, Livia," Marissa said to her sister. "Daddy won't give Mommy any presents if he finds out that she so much as looked at another man. Don't worry."

Olivia slowly brought her arms down, face erupting into a huge, sly smile. Casey rolled her eyes, pushing the cart towards a tub of apples. Grabbing a bag and setting it in the car, she replied. "I don't know what I'm going to do with all of you. The Venturi blood in you transforms you from the sweet, innocent girls you usually are, too the best pranksters of your schools."

"Daddy taught us well." Olivia stated, placing her fist up to her chest and doing a little bow. She almost walked into a cardboard cut-out of Santa eating cookies if Marissa hadn't grabbed the back of her coat and hauled her back.

Casey laughed. "And you got the clumsiness from me."

Olivia ducked her head, scowling to the floor. She was a lot like her Dad in that way. She hated when people found a reason to laugh at her when she had no good come backs of her own.

"Speaking of Santa and cookies," Marissa commented, taking the list out of her Mom's hand and scanning it. "When are we going to do our Christmas baking?"

"I was thinking about doing it tomorrow morning, on Christmas Eve. That way your Dad will be at his practice and we can hide everything before he gets home and eats half of everything. Nate won't be a problem, bribe him with a few and he'll leave the rest alone. Your Dad will just eat."

"Makes sense." Marissa nodded, looking down and the paper in her hands. "It says we need more vanilla and icing sugar. Other than that we're good for baking ingredients."

"Alright." Casey turned the cart into the baking aisle, almost hitting a young woman holding a baby in the process.

---

"So, Mar..."

They were standing by the cereal; waiting and watching Olivia grab the various boxes of breakfast food that the Venturi's ate. Olivia always insisted on doing it herself, so Casey and Marissa were leaning against the cart watching her. The store was full of people shopping for the last minute items they needed for the holidays so Casey was keeping a sharp eye on her youngest who had a tendency to wander off and explore instead of coming right back.

"Wait a second. What does that say?" Marissa questioned.

Casey looked over her daughters shoulder, reading where she was pointing.

"...Corn Pops, I think."

Marissa squinted. "Are you serious? That's a C? I thought it was a V. Dad must have written it."

"It does look something like a V, but I guess I know how he writes his alphabet from living with him since I was fifteen." Casey gave a short chuckle. "After we got married, we both split up that names and began to write thank-you notes. I honestly don't think people could make heads or tails out of his writing."

"How did he even pass grade one the second time?"

Casey shrugged, eyes shifting to look around for her youngest. Olivia was just making her way back with her arms full of colourful boxes stacked on top of each other. She dumped them all in the car, brushing her hands off on her jeans.

"Whoa, Livia. What's this doing in here?" Casey reached and grabbed a bright yellow box with the words _Planet Chocolate_ and some small little aliens on the front of it. She looked down at her daughter, hand on her hip. The little girl shifted her weight, looking slightly uncomfortable at her Mom catching her, before looking up and flashed typical Venturi smirk, although it looked a bit shaky.

"I thought we could try a new kind. Since it's Christmas, the time for sharing and _giving_." She winked.

Casey gave her a soft smile before handing it back to her. "Breakfast and dessert are two different things, Sweetie. Go put it back."

Marissa rolled her eyes as they watched her scamper off. "If I would have done that you would have found it annoying, not cute."

"I didn't find it cute."

"You gave her that _you are just too cute _smile."

Casey sighed. "What's up with you and smiles? First Dad has one and now I do? Besides, I haven't got a chance to ask you. How was your trip?"

"It's been hard to find time to talk around Bethany being born." Marissa gave a soft smile.

"That's true," Casey pressed. "But I still want to know how it all went. Was Edmonton busy? How did that new dress we bought you work? Did it fit right?"

Marissa laughed. "It fit great and it didn't stand out at all and," There was a loud snap off to her right and both women looked to see a man and a little boy arguing over a pack of hotdogs. Casey turned back to her daughter, not wanting to let any of the time they had alone pass.

"Go on, how was the conference?"

Marissa stared at her Mom and swallowed. Casey looked so happy. Her eyes twinkled and her face looked content and blissful. Talking about the trip was going to bring up some things Marissa wasn't looking forward to that much.

"It was great. They actually played decent music, and the food didn't taste like plastic at all."

Casey nudged her. "How about the boys, any cute ones?"

"A few of them were okay." Marissa blushed; embarrassed and reached to wrap her fingers around the chain around her neck, the nervous habit she picked up from her Dad.

Olivia bounded back at that moment, eyes wide with a tinge of annoyance. Marissa gave a sigh of relief at the distraction. Her parents always acted funny when it came to past girlfriends or boyfriends or anyone that they knew in High School. Marissa always figured it was because they were step-siblings but either way, she never liked mentioning it.

---

They were going to be late picking the boys up since Olivia used her cereal scheme and failed miserably. This, of course, was causing them all to rush.

"So you never really told me," Casey sped down the dairy isle, only stopping to grab a brick of cheese off one of the shelves before pushing off again. "What you all did. Did you talk to anyone?"

Marissa found herself fumbling over her thoughts and she reached up once again to twist her fingers in the simple chain. The diamond pendant at the bottom with the letters "M V" intertwined with fancy cursive writing, poked out of her sweater, flashing in the dim lights of the market. She swallowed and turned to her, Mom.

"Not too many people. Everyone was pretty busy chatting and stuff. I did talk to this one lady though and she said she grew up with, Dad."

The cart jerked violently, the sack of apples leaning up against the inside of the cart, fell down and Marissa winced as they landed on a tub of yogurt. Luckily, nothing broke open, splattered or blew up and that seemed to be a sort of sign. Either way, Marissa was relieved; maybe this would all turn out okay.

The cheerful music in the store played on, people carried about their lives and no one paid any attention to the scene happening by the milk and cream. Casey cleared her throat and moved the apples back to their original stance.

"What was her name?"

Marissa tried to swallow but found she couldn't and ended up with a more gagging noise.

"Emily Davis."

---

"Well don't they look happy." Marissa muttered sarcastically.

Derek and Nate were sitting outside of the arena. They both looked cold, miserable and when they noticed the car pulling up alongside the curb, pissed.

"You are so late, Case." Derek opened the passenger side door and motioned for Marissa to move. She sighed and crawled over to the back of the car to sit by her sister. Nate followed soon after, plopping himself down into the seat behind his Dad's.

"Where the _hell,_ were you guys?"

"Nathan!" Three voices echoed through the cab and Marissa quickly placed her hands over her little sister's ears. Olivia pushed them off, looking irritated. "It's not like I haven't heard it before."

Casey looked at her daughter in the rear-view mirror. "It's just we don't want your brother using language like that...word. That's all."

"Yeah," Derek turned around in his seat to face his son. "And he knows that already."

"I know, I know." Nate rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat. His long, dark brown hair was falling into his eyes and he tried to blow it out of the way.

Derek stared at him a little while longer before turning back around in his seat, content with his discipline techniques. Casey rolled her eyes, obviously not feeling the same way, and pulled out of the parking lot. The car ride was quiet for a few moments before she asked her son, "How was practice?"

"Brutal. Coach made us do double the laps we normally do." Casey shot a glare in her husband's direction.

"Is that so, Nate?" She flicked her eyes back to the road.

"Yep." He answered, popping the 'P'. "I don't even know why we have him for a coach anyways. _He_ sucks."

Derek scoffed. "I don't even know why they even asked me to coach you guys in the first place. It's like trying to teach teddy bears how to lift weights. It just can't be done."

"Maybe because you're an NHL player." Nate replied sarcastically, ignoring the teddy bear jab. His hair fell down again and he gave an annoyed sigh.

Derek hid a smile by peeling off his gloves and throwing them on the dashboard. "And they ask every NHL player to coach High School hockey teams? _Puh_-lease. Am I chopped liver now or something? Jeez. What is the world coming to?"

"They asked you because you're my Dad. Duh."

Derek paused for a moment.

"I need to start taking that off my resume."

Casey smiled, flicking on her turn signals and sparing a sideways glance in Derek's direction. "You are such a softie."

"I am not." He scowled at her.

"You are too."

"Am not." Derek stuck his tongue out at his wife, causing the girls in the backseat to giggle.

"Are too."

"Whoa." Derek held up a hand. "Let's not go all _Star Wars, _Case. What did that poor little droid do to you?"

The backseat erupted into laughter.

Casey looked over at Derek and gave him a soft smile and mouthed "I love you" while he just stuck his tongue out at her again and gave her a sly wink.

---

"Derek, I don't think you understand how serious this is." Casey ranted as she paced around the kitchen's island. Her husband sat on one of the barstools, eyes following her movements. After they had gotten home, the kids left for their bedrooms, leaving Casey and Derek alone in the kitchen to put away the food and get started on supper.

"And I think you're overreacting. Again. Case, Marissa _talked_ to Emily. So what? It's not like she offered her the spare bedroom or anything. Emily lives in London. We live in Calgary. There is a lot of land between here," He pointed at the kitchen floor. "And there." Derek threw his arm back.

"That's not the point." Casey argued, aggressively grabbing the fridge door and yanking it open, causing a few of the magnets to fly to the floor. Derek barely had time to blink before she slammed a brick of cheese and grater in front of him.

"I'm making pizza for supper, so get busy." She grumbled through clenched teeth. He rolled his eyes and went back to her previous comment.

"Then what is the point, Casey?" He sighed, standing up and grabbing a bowl out of the dish drain board before heading back to his stool to do as he was asked. He had discovered that it always was a lot easier to convince his wife of things when she wasn't pissed off at his lazy antics. It saved him a headache and she got to wait to use her drama queen attitude for another time. Everybody wins.

"The point is..." She had paused, her hand grasping the edge of the counter as she thought.

"See? You don't even know what you're all worked up about." He didn't even have to look up from the cheese to know she was drawing up a blank.

Her eyes flashed over to him, angrily. "I do so, know what I'm all worked up about. I just...can't..."

Derek rolled his eyes at her, placing the cheese down on the counter top and walking over to her. He grasped her shoulders and gave her a little shake. She was looking down, avoiding his eyes.

"Babe, look at me."

She did, hesitantly. Her blue eyes were clouded and upset and Derek found his heart clench as he looked into them. He gently ran his hands up and down her arms and tried to say something to comfort her. "It's not like she's going to come here, kill you while you're sleeping and hop into bed with me."

That was the wrong thing to say, apparently, because Casey pulled back from him. Her blue eyes went wide and she started shaking her head over and over again, as if she had never even dreamed of this possibility until now and was actually considering it.

"Uh...maybe that was the wrong thing to say." Derek stated, scratching the back of his neck.

"You think? God, can't you just see it? It's probable. She'll come grab a knife from the kitchen, my favourite one that I got from my Mom last year, or she might take Nate's gun an-"

Derek laughed. "Case, a pellet gun would not kill you."

"Not if she shot me in the temple!"

"Well..." Derek considered this, putting on his best thinking face as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Maybe we should do a dummy test on you, just to be safe."

"Der-ek!" Casey huffed, hurriedly wiping under her eyes to get rid of the few tears that had escaped. She heard Derek sigh and felt him pull her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his brood shoulders and buried her face into his neck. The tears were flowing freely now and she didn't try to stop them. Derek's fingers were running through her hair and he was kissing the top of her head.

"Baby, why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad!" She pulled back, still keeping her arms around him, to look him in the eyes. He instantly reached to brush the tears off her cheeks. "I'm just...frustrated. I know that I'm overreacting but she was a total mess when you broke up with her Derek. I was just hoping she would be a memory that would...fade...I guess."

"How could she be a mess when we barely dated for a month?" Derek asked, perplexed.

"She's a girl, Hun. A girl that was in love with you since grade school."

"And she's a girl that isn't going to steal me away from you or whatever that Spacey head of yours, is thinking." He tapped the side of her head and she gave him a small smile, swatting his hand away. "Also, when was the last time you saw her? In University when we were already dating. You never told her, then and it never was an issue."

"Because we weren't dating then." Derek tilted his head at her.

"Um, yes we were, Head-Case. I remember seeing you in the mall, shopping, and as soon as Emily left for the bathroom, we went into one of those dressing room things and made out."

Casey blushed, sliding her hands from behind Derek's back, over his shoulders and to his chest. "You hadn't asked me out though. We were just at _that_ stage."

Derek stared blankly at her for a moment before he beamed, remembering, and pulled her in for another hug. "I loved that stage. You were so hot with your whole bad girl, sneakiness." He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist. "Then you decided that we had to tell our parents if we were going to 'move into a relationship'." Derek smirked, slipping his hand down to quickly pinch her ass. She jumped and he laughed.

"If you hadn't agreed to my 'telling the parents', we wouldn't be where we are now."

"True," He dropped his chin on her shoulder and blew into her ear. Casey giggled and tried to squirm out of his hold.

"No way, Case. I finally got you where I want you, so there is no chance of me letting you go now." Derek gave her a slow smirk, before he bent his head, his lips finding hers.

---

"_Derek, I think we need to tell our parents." Casey managed to choke out._

_ The kisses on her neck stopped abruptly._

"_You just had to bring this up now, didn't you?" He stated, annoyed._

"_Derek, we aren't even dating and here I am, lying with you on your couch, making out. Where the hell did this come from? This isn't me, you know."_

_He got up off of her, shifting so he was now sitting on the couch and pulled her so she was in his lap. "Trust me, I figured that. You never use to wear lace before." He looked pointedly at her chest, where the top few buttons of her shirt had come undone, the red, lacy bra was just peeking through._

"_And you use to never be a Peeping Tom before." She stammered and reached down, fingers scrambling to find the buttons. Something warm covered her hands, brushing them back._

"_Let me."_

_She watched Derek, through half open eyes, as he buttoned her shirt back up. She jerked back when she felt her fingers graze the red lace._

"_We need to slow this down."_

_Derek sighed, leaning in so his forehead was resting on hers. He kissed her closed lips a few more times, closing his eyes and breathing in._

"_This is a lot slower than I normally go, already. We would have already won the baseball game if you were any other girl."_

_This didn't make a lot of sense to Casey, but she guessed it was something dirty. She shoved him off her slightly, sitting up more, so she could look at him better but not have to move out of his lap. His hair was sticking up from where her fingers had run through it and his cheeks looked a little flushed. Other than that he looked...happy. It was a strange thing for Casey to consider; that she was the one that made him look like that. _

"_I don't even know how this all started. Last week I was waiting by the locker rooms to pick you up from hockey practice, since I had The Prince, and then you were dragging me behind the bleachers, your tongue down my throat."_

_Derek scoffed._

"_I was _not_ dragging you. You're making it sound like I was forceful."_

"_You were!"_

"_You weren't complaining."_

_Casey closed her eyes, swallowing. The last thing she wanted was for them to get into a fight, especially now when they had gone three weeks without any big squabbles. Even when Emily was visiting, they had managed to keep it at a minimum, and that had been stressful._

"_Do you like me?"_

_Derek sat up a little straighter, staring at her with bemusement._

"_What are you talking about, Spacey?"_

_Casey tried again. "Do you like me? And I don't mean, like as in you think of me as a decent person. I mean like as in you _like_ me." Her voice had dropped to a whisper and she felt the need to look down, fearing the look on his face wouldn't be the one she wanted._

_Fingers were beneath her chin then. _

"_Why would you ask a question like that?"_

"_Because, Derek, you don't do this. We use to fight all the time and we never agreed on anything but now you kiss me, try to take off my clothes," He blushed a little at that and she gave a soft smile. "And generally show that sweet side of yours more often."_

_He grimaced and opened his mouth to protest this. Casey placed a finger over his lips._

"_I like you. I think you're a decent person and I _like _you. I really do."_

_Derek blinked several times, his face was blank. Casey felt panic swell up inside of her and was just about going to push him off of her, stand up and dash out of his apartment, when he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. It was different from every other kiss they shared. It was timid, careful and at the same time passionate. Derek pulled back, moving her off his lap a little. She shot him a confused look as he took his cell phone out of his pocket, pushed a couple numbers and handed it to her. The screen said, "Calling...Home/London. Connected." Casey looked back up at him, bewildered by what was going on. Derek simply rolled his eyes and answered. _

"_I _like_ you too, you goof."_

_---_

"Eww, get a room." Marissa watched her parents in amusement as they hurriedly pulled apart, each taking a step back from one another. Derek wiped his mouth on his shirt sleeve while Casey reached up to smooth out her hair, blushing.

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework?" Derek asked. His voice sounded too deep and he cleared his throat.

Marissa shrugged, grabbing an apple out of the bowl on the counter. "Two words, Christmas break."

Casey shot her a pointed look. "Two words, almost supper."

Marissa looked around the kitchen, then at her parents, then back at the kitchen. "Somehow, I rather doubt that." She shook her head, muttering under her breath. "And I thought kitchens were for cooking _food_."

"I'll call for pizza!" Derek said instantly.

"But Derek I was already making..." Casey took one look at the bowl of cheese on the counter and then at her daughter leaning against the counter with a knowing look on her face and grabbed the phone off the wall, handing it to him. "Yeah, call for pizza."

_

* * *

_

_Review, please!_


	6. Earl Grey Tea

_I apologize for the late update. The week after the holidays where you head back to school is always crazy, plus my laptop has been acting really stupid lately. Freezing all the time. I'm getting it checked out, so it will be easier for me to write. This is a longer chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter, by the way. I read them all with a smile._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything._

_Read & Review please :)_

* * *

Placing her empty coffee mug on the counter, Emily gave a heavy sigh as she stared at the answering machine in the corner. Its red light flashing as it mocked her. God, how she hated this machine, another wave of technology created to make her life more difficult. Why didn't people understand she never answered her phone because she just didn't want to hear from them?

She hit the _Listen to All Messages_, button and listened.

_Message one, 1:43pm, December 24__th__._

"Hey Emily, its Helena. Just calling to make sure you don't forget or try to back out of our Mexico trip. There is no way I am not spending my last hours of 2009 in Canada and neither are you. Start packing girl, New Years Eve is just around the corner!"

Rolling her eyes and pressing the _Delete_ button, Emily gave another long sigh. It had been Helena's idea, going to Mexico for a week and celebrating New Years Eve on the beach. Emily was totally excited to go and happy Helena had asked her, but she wasn't looking forward to it as much as the perky blonde was. She closed her eyes as the next message popped up.

_Message two, 2:34pm, December 24__th__._

"Emily, this is Jane. Please give me a call as soon as you get in. I'll be at my office late tonight so don't bother trying to reach me at home. Till then."

Christmas Eve and her boss was already phoning her, on her break, about another article idea she wanted to try out, no doubt. Knowing the consequences with putting these sorts of things off, she grabbed the cordless phone off its base.

Emily quickly dialled the number to her workplace, drumming her fingers against the counter top as she listened to it ring.

"_Blush and Things, _how may I help you?"

"Hi, this is Emily Davis. Jane asked me to call her."

"I'll put you through, hold on a second."

_Beep...Beep...Beep...Be-_

"Hello, this is Jane O'Connor. Who is this again?"

"Um, it's Emily."

"Emily! Yes! Just the person I was hoping was calling me. How can I help you?"

"Uh, you called and left a message for me, Jane."

Jane was a large, middle-aged woman who ate her weight in chocolate about every month. She had long black hair that was always tied up in some sort of bun and her face was covered with every sort of make-up product imaginable, none of it the natural stuff she tried to sell off to her readers.

"Right, I did. What was I...?" There was the sound of keyboard keys clicking and Emily practically shuddered as she imagined Jane's fat fingers, plastered with thick rings typing on the small keys. "Ah! Here it is. Okay, I got a call last week from some of those horrible scientists; you know the ones that live in the western provinces? Anyways, apparently one of them discovered some sort of mineral that helps get rid of dry skin or acne. Something like that. I was wondering if you would want to cover the story."

Emily felt her mouth drop open and reached a hand up to her draw to push it back into place. An offer like this, especially to a simple editor didn't happen very often. She reached up and twisted a piece of her springy hair around her finger, not even bothering to think about her answer, just going with the most logical answer.

"Jane I-"

"Wait, don't answer. I don't want to hear it." Emily heard a loud chewing noise from Jane's end and pulled the phone away from her ear slightly.

"Jane?"

"What? Sorry, my dear. I just got this lovely box of chocolates for the holidays. The cream filled ones are extraordinary." She made some type of delighted noise. "But I don't want to hear your answer right now. Everyone knows that it's better to at least think about the offer for a good two days, that way we know you truly want to do it."

Emily rolled her eyes.

"I'll let you know."

More chewing.

"Fantastic." Jane sighed. "These are truly amazing candies."

"Jane?" Emily questioned and Jane was brought back to earth.

"Oh, of course Emily, if you think that's best."

Emily hung up the phone and placed it back on its base. She felt a headache coming on and headed over to the sink. Grabbing a simple glass from the cupboard and filling it full of water, she swallowed a few aspirins. The sun was already setting, Emily noted as she stared idly out the window above her sink. She caught a glimpse of her reflection and frowned.

Her hair was a mess, her make-up looked smudged and faded and her dark brown eyes looked exhausted. Basically, she decided, she looked shattered- like a stained glass window in a church had shined its bright, colourful lights on her in many different, jagged patterns. So basically, instead of seeing a picture of beauty and life, you saw pieces.

Emily's Mother wanted her at the house by 3:00 o'clock, so they could have their traditional, early Christmas Eve meal and open a few presents before tomorrow morning, something Emily had done ever since she was a little girl still using training wheels on her bike.

Slowly pushing herself away from the counter, Emily trudged into her bedroom. After throwing on a clean red shirt, a different pair of jeans and fixing her hair, she was ready to leave. The wrapped presents were already sitting in her car, so all she had to do was turn off all the lights, feed Norman and walk out the door.

---

Turning into the familiar neighbourhood of her childhood, Emily felt a sense of nostalgia wash over her. Her parents still lived in the home they had first bought when they moved to London, although both she and Dimi didn't live at home anymore.

Seeing the familiar house come into view, she gave a sigh of relief and slowed down. Her Dad's car was parked in the driveway, so she pulled up along the curb. Getting out, Emily squinted up at the dark, cloudy sky. Snowflakes were fluttering down softly, and a cool breeze whipped through the streets, blowing some shovel snow off the snow banks. Shivering, Emily reached into the backseat, snatching the wrapped gifts and kicking her car door shut.

The wind howled and Emily ran up the slick driveway to the front door without dropping anything or slipping. She managed to hit the doorbell button with her hip, as she juggled the many packages she was carrying. Emily barely had time to blink before the door swung open and she was ushered into the warm entrance.

"Emily! You're home!" Brenda cried, wrapping her daughter in a tight embrace.

"You better hope you didn't squish any of these." Emily choked out, trying to shift the gifts out of the way.

"Don't be silly." She chided, pulling back slightly to grin at her daughter. "Look at you. A beautiful young woman."

Laughing, Emily replied. "I don't think being in your thirty's allows you to qualify as _young_." Brenda made a _tsk _sound and waved her hand absently. "You're younger than me, so that counts."

Emily gave her Mom a big smile. Even though Brenda was correct, she still had a youthful side to her. Emily could see it in her Mom's warm brown eyes and kind, wide smile. She was still the same Mom that played tag with her at the park and bought her _Barbie_ dolls.

"You aren't old, Mom." Emily argued.

Brenda scoffed. "That's nonsense. Look at these grey hairs." She gestured to the aged hair at the tips of her temples. "Plus," She said with a smile. "I'm already a Grandma."

Emily's eyes widened. "That's right! Is Dimi here yet? I can't wait to see all of my little nieces and my baby nephew again."

Brenda shook her head. "I'm afraid not. They won't be here until at least 7:00 o'clock. I'm making a late supper, so you'll have to wait a while."

Emily grinned, suddenly feeling a surge of thrill.

"No problem. Let me know what I can help with."

---

After she had placed the presents under the pine tree in the corner of the living room, Emily headed into the kitchen to help her Mom with some of the final meal preparations.

They were in the middle of chopping and peeling vegetables when a familiar voice asked, "Is this the person who was ringing the doorbell?"

Both women turned to see Frank, Emily's Father, leaning against the doorway. A heavy novel in one of his hands, his reading glasses still on the bridge of his nose. His moustache twitched as he smiled at his daughter and Emily smiled back.

"Hi, Daddy." She hurried over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug. Frank followed her example, and Emily could feel the book pressing into her spine as he held her close.

"Our big time, editor daughter is here in our kitchen, Brenda. Can you believe it?" He asked.

She heard her Mom sigh from somewhere behind her.

"Let the poor girl go, Frank. She needs to breathe."

Frank pulled back, grinning over at his wife. "Like you didn't do the exact same thing when you first saw her."

Brenda rolled her eyes at her husband. "That reminds me," She turned to look at Emily. "Why did you ring the doorbell? This is still your home, Em."

Now it was Emily's turn to roll her eyes. "I know that, Mom." She stated, annoyed. "It just doesn't feel right to waltz into any home without giving some notification that you've arrived."

Brenda shook her head. "That doesn't matter. From now on, I want you to do just that. Got it?"

"Got it."

---

"So, what was this big conference like?"

Emily looked up from the carrots she was chopping to peer over at her Mother. "Which conference?"

"The most recent one you went too. That one in Edmonton."

Emily closed her eyes and tried to push back the nauseating feeling that was bubbling up, inside her stomach at the mention of that night. "It was pretty good. The Christmas ones are always better than the regular ones; better food."

"But you seemed so excited to go," Brenda persisted, upset with her daughters lack of information. "What all happened?"

Emily thought very carefully about what her answer was going to be. Her Mom was just as much of an expert on Derek Venturi as she was which made sense, after all Emily had told her a lot about him over the years. She could recall sitting on her teenage bed, hugging a Kleenex box to her chest as she cried softly into her Mom's shoulder.

---

"_This isn't fair, Mom." Emily cried into her Mom's shoulder._

_Brenda gently rubbed her daughters back. "I know, honey. I'm sure he isn't doing it on purpose."She said soothingly._

_Emily looked up then, grabbing a fist full of tissue and wiping it under her eyes clumsily. _

"_No, he is." She hiccupped slightly. "Last week when I was standing with Casey by the water fountain, he came over and was fighting with her, as usual, but before he left..." She took a deep breath, feeling more tears pricking the back of her eyes. "He looked me over, up and down and smirked before he sauntered away. He smirked at me, Mom!"_

_Brenda just gave her eldest a knowing smile. "I know he did."_

"_And then," Emily gave an angry sigh as the tears she was trying her hardest to hold back, broke free. "Th-then he asked Irene out. Irene! Irene, the slut that has blonde hair and green eyes and boobs the size to here." She held her hand out several feet in front of her chest. _

_Brenda just nodded and brushed her daughter's hair back. "I know."_

_Sniffling, Emily asked. "Why, Mom? Am I not pretty enough? Am I fat?"_

"_You are beautiful and perfect."_

_Emily gave her Mother a sour look and pouted._

"_You have to say that. You're my, Mom."_

_Brenda shook her head._

"_No, I'm saying that because you _are_ beautiful _and_ perfect."_

_It was quiet for a moment as Emily digested this._

"_Thanks..." She finally murmured quietly, looking down at her pink and white flower bedspread, feeling slightly embarrassed._

"_And Derek has no idea what he's missing." Brenda continued. "You are a smart, gorgeous girl that any guy would kill to have. You are unique and perfect and I love you." She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the top of her daughter's curly head. _

"_Now I'm going to go start supper." She stated and moved towards Emily's bedroom door._

"_Wait, Mom...Thanks."_

_Brenda just flashed her daughter a smile. "Any time."_

_---_

"Not a whole lot." Emily finally answered. "I met this young girl, though. She's the daughter of Derek Venturi. You remember him, right?"

Brenda just looked at her daughter.

"Yes," She said after an awkward silence. "I remember him."

"He plays for the_ Calgary Flames _hockey team." Emily heard her Dad call from the living room, where he had headed off to after the hugging was finished.

Her Mom was still looking at her with an expression that was unreadable. It was eerie and Emily felt her heart tighten, feeling like a complete, utter fool for even bringing it up.

"Her name was Marissa. She was really nice. Looks a lot like him. Same hair but different eye colour." Emily continued, rambling, which she always did in awkward moments. A flash of her first date with Derek, at Smellie Nellie's and the total uncomfortable feeling that never left until the date was done, went through her mind. She blushed and looked back down to concentrate on the carrots.

Brenda nodded. "I've seen her."

Emily, startled, dropped the knife she was using on to the counter, and it made a _clang_, echoing in the tiny kitchen.

"When?"

"I had tea with, Nora a few days ago and she was showing me the school pictures of her grandchildren."

"Really? Do they still live next door?"

"No," Her Mom answered slowly. "They moved to a smaller house across town. Why are you asking me all of this?" Brenda questioned.

Emily shrugged. "Curious."

It was quiet for a few moments; the only sound was the TV coming from the next room and the cutting of vegetables.

"Do you think I could have the address to George and Nora's new house?" Emily asked at last.

"Emily..." Brenda gave a groan, pressing the heels of her hands against her forehead. "If this is still about that ridiculous school girl crush..."

"It isn't, Mom." The words sounded hollow to Emily's own ears, but she ignored it.

Brenda closed her eyes, and rested her head on her folded arms on top of the counter. "They're happy, Em." She assured her daughter without opening her eyes. "I don't want you to interfere with all of that. I know you liked Derek for a long time, but he's a grown man now with a family of his own." Her eyes flickered open. "He's happy."

The feeling building up inside, Emily's chest is one I can't explain. Mainly because Emily herself, has no clue what it's is. A mixture between frustration, betrayal, and miserable.

"I'm not going to try to make him leave Casey-" Emily started.

"You know he married, Casey?" Brenda asked her, shocked.

Emily shrugged. "I figured it out." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I miss having Casey as a friend, chatting with Derek and...I promise you, I'm not going to do anything stupid or reckless. I just want to find a way to get in touch with my friend."

There was a painful pause.

Brenda grabbed a blank piece, wrote something on it and handed it to her daughter. Emily grabbed it and hurried out the door.

"Be back by seven!" Brenda called after her as the door shut.

---

1760, Habble Street. The new address of Nora and George.

Emily drove slowly down the charming neighbourhood covered with Christmas lights and blow-up reindeer, looking carefully at the numbers on each house.

The snow was still falling, but more severe now, and her windshield wipers made swishing noises as they scraped over the glass.

1754...1755...1756...1757...1758...1759...1760. She pulled up alongside the yard.

The house was small with a carport and a little porch that covered the front part of it. There was a bright picture window facing the road and Emily watched someone, Nora possibly, moving around inside. Her stomach flipped over as her gaze shifted to the driveway.

She had no idea if Derek and Casey were inside, as it would make sense to go home and visit the parents for the holidays. It bothered her that she never considered this possibility before she left. A car started down the road ahead of her and Emily watched it back out and drive down the street. It was leaving the neighbourhood and as it passed her car, she made her decision.

Climbing out of the car, she quickly made her way across the driveway, around the car that was parked there and up the small wooden steps to the front door.

She planted her feet down, forcing herself not to make a run for it. Emily's stomach felt like it was full of butterflies, and the headache she had tried to stop a few hours earlier was threatening to come back.

"This is stupid. Just knock on the door."Emily whispered to herself angrily. "Don't be a wimp." Before she could stop herself or think about what she was doing, her gloved hand reached up and knocked.

As soon as her hand dropped, she held her breath. Someone was walking around inside, and she heard their footsteps head over to the door, in her direction. Frantically looking around her, she half considered running back towards her car, but she couldn't make herself move. The footsteps got louder and she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Please don't be, Derek. Please, please." She hissed silently under her breath, trying to get her knees to stop shaking. "I knew I shouldn't have come here."

The sound of the door opening, and warm air fluttering out to meet her, caused Emily to turn back around.

"Emily?"

---

Nora smile was a little confused as she took in the distraught young woman on her doorstep. She looked a lot like how Emily remembered her, but different. Older. Her hair was curled slightly and pinned up at back of her head. She was wearing a simple green sweater with snowflakes printed on it and black sweat pants.

"Hello, Mrs. Venturi." Emily squeaked out, feeling like a bank robber being caught with her hands inside a safe.

"Come inside, you look half frozen."

Emily stomped her boots outside before she shuffled in. The house was quaint, with bright painted walls and hardwood floors. Emily's eyes locked onto the three pictures hanging on the wall opposite to the door. They were school pictures, judging by the dull blue background. Instantly, she recognized Marissa. Her brown hair curled around her face as she beamed at the camera. She didn't know who the other two children were but assumed, since they were by Marissa, that they would be Nathan and Olivia.

The boy wasn't smiling but his lips were curled up at the corners in the usual, teenage boy fashion. His dark brown hair was long and fell into his chocolate eyes. He looked a lot like Derek, Emily decided. The other photo was of the little girl who was grinning at the camera, her face lighting up the picture. Her hair was the same colour as the boy's and curled like her sister. Her eyes were a sparkling blue colour that looked like gems.

"I hope I'm not intruding on any family time." Emily apologized, unzipping her jacket.

"Oh, not at all." Nora took the coat and hung it up in the closet by the door. "The only children that come home for Christmas are Marti and Caroline. They won't be here till tomorrow evening though." She led Emily into a dining room.

"Would you like any tea? I was just making a pot."

"Sure." Emily answered with a smile, sitting down on one of the chairs and clasping her hands together on the table top. Nora disappeared into the kitchen joining the dining room.

Nora came back with two mugs full of hot liquid and a glass jar filled with sugar. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Emily responded as Nora sat down across from her.

They sipped in a comfortable silence for a moment before Nora placed her mug down, clearing her throat.

"I'm guessing this isn't a simple social visit."

Emily smiled. "You're guessing right. I actually was hoping I could talk to you about something."

"Be my guest." Nora said with a smile.

Emily had contemplated on the drive over to Nora's house, the best way to bring up the subject and finally decided on just spilling the story, so she did just that.

"I was at a Christmas conference for my work a week or so ago, and I met your granddaughter, Marissa."

Nora's eyes instantly brightened. "Oh, how is she doing? I haven't seen her for a couple months."

"She's doing well." Emily took a drink of her tea. "Marissa's a really smart girl, you are lucky to have her as a granddaughter."

"I know. She's so much like Casey, but there's a lot of Derek in her too. It balances her out. Nathan and Olivia as well, they're all perfect." Nora replied, already guessing that Emily knew about her daughter and step-son's relationship.

Emily wrapped her fingers around her teacup, looking down.

"I've lost touch with, Casey."

"And meeting Marissa has brought back old memories of both Derek and Casey and you now want to get back in touch with them?"

Emily's head shot up. "Yes. Exactly. How'd you know?"

Nora reached across the table towards the girl.

"I think you're forgetting I'm a Mother, Emily. We know these things. Now, what would you like my help with?"

"Nora?" A voice called from the kitchen. "Is there any tea left?"

Nora grinned at, Emily. "George, I'm in here."

He entered the dining room, mug in hand, stopping short when he saw Emily.

"Why, Miss. Emily. Hello." George grabbed the back of one of the chairs closest to his wife and sat down. His hair was shorter than Emily recalled, and it was quite grey. He looked healthy though, and smiled warmly at his step-daughters old friend.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Nora turned to him then, handing him the sugar as he stirred the tea around in his cup. "She saw, Marissa last week."

"At that thing in Edmonton?"

"Yep." Emily answered, directing the attention back to her. "But what I was wondering was...how did Casey and Derek get together? I mean, there is nothing wrong with it, but after high school ended... I lost touch with Casey and I would just like...to...know." She ended pathetically and resisted the urge to bury her face in hands.

"I understand, Emily." Nora said quietly, with a smile. "It all started like this..."

---

_The day had been going perfectly. Nora had got all the laundry done before lunch time, Caroline had fallen asleep for her afternoon nap without much fuss and slept for a good three hours straight before waking up. The pot roast she was making for supper was already in the oven and the potatoes were boiling on the stove. The table was set, George was home early and Lizzie had aced her most recent math exam._

_Life was good._

_Or, at least it was until the phone had rung. Nora was sitting on the couch with her feet up, flipping through one of Lizzie's fashion magazines. Since Lizzie had started high school, she had changed so much. Her hair was dyed blonde with coloured highlights; she even was on the yearbook committee. _

"_Phone!" Edwin called from upstairs and Nora rolled her eyes at her youngest step-son. He had recently gone through a falling out with one of the girls in his school and was avoiding the phone like it had the plague._

Derek's Cell, _it said on the caller ID and Nora felt confused. Derek never called home, especially around supper time. _

"_Hello?"_

"_Mom? It's, Casey."_

_Now Nora was even more perplexed. "Casey? Why are you calling on Derek's cell phone? He isn't hurt or anything is he?"_

"_No he isn't, he's fine. At least for now." There was the sound of someone speaking in the background and Casey shushing them._

"_You still there, Case?" Nora asked, her brow furrowed. _

"_Yeah, I'm here." Casey answered, her voice coming back into the receiver. "Look, Mom. I need to tell you something."_

Here goes my good day_, Nora thought. She could just imagine what Casey would say. "Mom I'm going to stop drinking the coffee that the University provides ," or "I stole two dollars out of your purse in grade six and never told you." Something silly that would seem like such a big deal to her daughter. Something that would cause her to lose sleep worrying about it. _Casey must have got her dramatic side from, Dennis. I don't ever recall acting like that.

"_What's wrong, Case?"_

_She heard her daughter swallow. "Well, Mom...I lik-"_

"_Mommy?"_

_Casey was cut-off by Caroline. The little two year old came tottering towards her Mother who was still sitting on the couch. _

"_I'm sorry Casey." Nora apologized hastily into the phone. "Give me a second." Casey sighed on the other end. "Now sweetie," Nora turned to look at her baby. "What's wrong?"_

_Caroline bit her lip and looked at her Mother with her big, blue eyes. Her blonde hair was falling out of the braids slightly and Nora reached over to pull the elastic bands out, letting her daughters' hair flow freely._

"_I'm hungwy."Caroline complained. Nora sighed, immediately dreading the battle that was about to take place. _

"_But sweetie, supper is going to be ready soon. And I made you some Kraft Dinner to eat. Your favourite."_

_Caroline crossed her little arms across her chest, and replied. "Yuck."_

"_Are you trying to be difficult?"_

_Caroline just looked at her Mother with a blank look. Her eyes were glaring as she watched her Mother. _

"_Caroline?" Nora asked in her most soothing voice. All she got was a stone cold glower. _

"_Baby? Come on, answer me."_

_When she still got no acknowledgment from her daughter, she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "What do you want, Caroline?"_

_The little girls face broke out into a devious smirk. "Cwackers." _

_Not even bothering to argue Nora grabbed Caroline's little hand in her own, and while balancing the phone between her shoulder and ear, she made her way into the kitchen. Filling a plastic _Dora the Explorer_ bowl with animal crackers, she handed it to Caroline. _

"_Go sit at the table." She told her, shooing her out of the room. "You still there, Casey?"_

_Another sigh. "Yes, I'm still here, Mom." _

"_Sorry about that. Caroline's just been in a really weird stage lately. She won't eat when I ask her too, and when she does eat its always something like crackers or cookies. I usually just let her eat what she wants, I mean, at least she's eating."_

"_Yeah but it's not healthy for her, Mom. She should be eating real food at regular meal times. You don't want to get her stuck on bad habits."_

_Nora rolled her eyes at Casey's remark and felt her defensive, maternal side lash out. "When you have your third child, while trying to keep tabs on your two eldest in university, while helping the two middle ones study for high school exams and driving the pre-teen to play practice every other day, you learn not to let these things bug you as much and to just go with the flow."_

"_...Okay. I'll try and remember that." Casey said hesitantly._

_Nora sighed brushing her bangs off her forehead. "I'm sorry, Case. It's just been a good day and I'm trying to keep it that way. Now, what did you want to tell me?"_

"_Well I-"_

"_Mom can you sign this permission slip so I can go to the science museum next week?" Lizzie asked, entering the kitchen with a yellow piece of paper. _

"_Sure, Lizard. Just grab me a pen." Another sigh from Casey's end._

_Quickly scribbling her signature in the bottom corner, she handed it back to Lizzie. "There. Now, what was I...Casey! Right! Okay, what did you have to tell me?"_

"_Alright, I just want you to know that Derek and I like-"_

"_Nora?" George questioned entering the kitchen. "What colour tie for my presentation tomorrow?" He held up two. "Green or Black?"_

_Nora held up her hand, silencing her husband. "Not now, Georgy. I'm talking to Casey and Derek. Alright, now you and Derek like what?"_

"_We like-"_

"_When's supper going to be ready?" Marti asked, bounding into the kitchen. _

"_Oh, for the love of God!" Casey yelled, exasperated. "Mother, can I just tell yo-"_

_There was a clattering noise in the dining room echoed by a small "Oops." _

_Nora placed a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. "Marti, go check on your sister."_

"_Why do I have to do it? Edwin is related to her just as much as I am. Why does he always just get to sit in his room on the computer?"Marti asked, upset._

"_Go." Nora pointed to the door, and watched her step-daughter head off in the direction. "Casey."_

"_Mom." She answered back._

"_Hey, Nora..." Edwin wandered into the kitchen, looking down at the history notebook in his hands._

"_I AM DATING, DEREK!" Casey bellowed loudly. So loud, that everyone in the kitchen heard her and the room went silent. _

_George's eyes went wide, Edwin stopped dead in his tracks and Lizzie spat out the water she was drinking. Marti's head poked back into the kitchen and even Caroline looked bemused. _

_Nora almost dropped the phone._

"_What did you say?" She asked in a whisper._

_Casey took a deep breath, and then another, and another._

"_Casey? Answer me." Nora demanded._

_Casey just kept on breathing._

"_Nora?" Derek asked, his voice sounding slightly amused. "Put me on speakerphone, I know everyone else is in the room with you, trying to listen in."_

_She did._

"_Okay," Derek continued. "I like Casey. Casey likes me. I asked her out-"_

_Smack!_

"_You did not ask me out!" Was the muffled reply the McDonald's and Venturi's heard._

"_That is _not_ the point, Case. The point is, I like your daughter, Nora and I want to date her and do all that stuff that you feminine chicks like. Hold her hand and buy her flowers, shit like that. I am going to take her out for dinner tonight and then too this play she has been dying to see. I know this because it's all she's been talking about. We love you all and we're sorry. We'll come visit you soon and explain it to you in person, soon."_

_And then he hung up._

---

"So that was how it all went down. Casey never told me how they actually got together, and I doubt she ever will." Nora finished.

"And," George continued. "A few years later when Derek and Casey were married and living in Edmonton, at the time Derek was playing Junior Hockey, Edwin and Lizzie told us the exact same thing. They've never left each other since."

Emily had to smile, it all sounded so sweet and like a romance novel. There was something still bugging her, though. "Why don't they all come back home to London, for Christmas? Where do they all live?"

"Well, Edwin and Lizzie moved to Edmonton after they got married. Edwin works as a lawyer up there and he got the best job offer up there. Derek, once he got into the _NHL,_ moved to Calgary so he could be closer to where his team was, the _Calgary Flames_. He usually has games right until Christmas time, so it's hard for them to get away. We all just get together around New Years."

Emily was suddenly grateful that she would be in Mexico when Derek and Casey would be here. Just then, she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket.

"Excuse me." She said as she checked it. There was a text from her brother.

_Its 730, where are you?! Mom's freaking out._

"I need to go. Mom's worried." Emily stood up.

"No problem." Nora stood up as well. "I'm glad we could help."

---

As Emily got into her car, she quickly grabbed her cell phone and dialled Jane's phone number.

"Hello, this is Jane?"

"Jane? This is Emily."

"Emily who?"

"Emily Davis. Listen, I've thought your offer over long and hard and decided to accept. How soon can I head over to Alberta? Also, would you mind if I stayed there a little longer than necessary? I need to go see someone..."

* * *

_Please review!_

_xoxoTaraxoxo_


	7. Family

_I appolgize for the serious lack of updates. My laptop crashed though, and it's taken me a while to get it back to normal. Luckily, I saved all my documents before it died. Anyways, this chapter is a little shorter but I really wanted to get it up here. I hope you all like it. And yes I will, hopefully, be writing more frequently now. _

_And extra big thanks to "pheobe p" who gets me to write even when I don't want to! _

_Disclaimer: I own zip._

* * *

The chair was small and uncomfortable and there was a coffee stain the size of France- or some sort of dark brown mark- on the floor at his feet. He was tired, way more tired than he should be thanks to a certain someone, and his youngest was using his shoulder as a pillow. That would be fine, on the count that Olivia didn't drool as much as a camel in the Sahara.

"Here."

Derek looked up from the discoloured mark on the floor to see Casey leaning over him, a _Tim Horton's _coffee cup balanced in her right hand. He took the coffee from her slowly; eyes squinted in confusion as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"You looked tired." She explained and sat down across from him- gently lifting Marissa's sleeping head off the cushioned seat and placing it in her lap. They were sitting in the airport; waiting to board they're flight to London, Ontario. It was early, far too early to be up in Derek's opinion, but it would be nice to be home when the sky was still a light grey and not the dark blackness that he was seeing now.

Marissa was sprawled out on a row of chairs, wrapped up in a small purple blanket from her childhood, a blanket she took with her everywhere. Nate was lying on the floor, his head resting on his carry-on, one arm thrown over his face, blocking his eyes from the harsh lights above him. Olivia was just leaning against him, trapping him to the seat.

"It's your fault I'm tired, you know." Derek told her childishly.

Casey rolled her eyes, clucking her tongue at him and wrapping her hands tighter around her own coffee cup. Marissa stirred slightly and the couple went silent as they waited to see if she had awoken.

"It was not _my_ fault. And I'm tired too! But do you see me complaining? No." Casey hissed at him.

"You're not complaining because it was your fault and you know, deep down, that it's the truth."

"Right." She answered sarcastically. "And you had no power at all in the matter. There was no way you could stop me."

Derek's eyes flashed. "There _wasn't_ any way I could stop you. I can't do anything when you act like that."

Casey simply took a sip of her coffee.

"Nuh uh, Case. Do not ignore me!" Derek sputtered, shifting his weight, trying to find some way to move without waking his youngest daughter. "This is not my fault in any way. You knew we would have to get up early to get to the airport, hell you even sent all the kids to bed at 9:00 o'clock. Then, once they fall asleep, you...decide to pull a...a...you...and keep me up...until the early hours of the morning."

Casey quirked an eyebrow. "I pulled a _me_?"

Derek nodded. "Yes a _you. _With all the touching and the kissing and...that terribly wonderful lingerie." He trailed off, eyes glued back to the mark on the floor.

Casey erupted into laughter.

"You're acting moody because we had sex last night and now you're tired?"

"Ewe, can you guys not in public? Please?" Came a groan from the floor.

"Go back to sleep, Nate." Casey told him sweetly to which Derek rolled his eyes.

Nate made another noise on incoherence, and then rolled over, face buried in his carry-on.

"No, I'm moody because you seduced me against my free will. And I am so not moo-"

"_Attention please, the flight for London 308 will be boarding in roughly ten minutes. Thank you."_

The steward's voice filled the room quickly in English, and then followed through with French. Casey leaned forward, careful to keep her hot drink away from Marissa's face as she whispered.

"I don't want to do anything like that in our parent's house, okay? I'd rather be tired today because I did _it _than have to wait for a whole week before I can do... _it_ again."

"Would you shut up! I don't need to hear this first thing in the morning. PG-13 here!" Marissa grumbled from her spot on Casey's lap.

"Be quiet, Marissa." Derek shushed her, though the harshness in his voice had softened considerably. His eyes met Casey's and he gave her a small smile. She grinned and winked at him before looking back down to her Marissa, who was tugging at the loose ends of her scarf, like what a small kitten would do to a piece of yarn.

"I want to sleep." She moaned and Casey made a comforting noise. It was a stressful time for Marissa, stressful for all of them. The news of Emily meeting, greeting and learning about their new family was a large dose of shock that was dealt to them. The kids, not really knowing the whole story, felt mostly in the dark about the whole thing. All they knew was that this woman caused their parents to be anxious, which was never good.

"I know, Mar, and you will be able to, on the plane."

"I can't sleep on planes, I need to be lying down in a bed." She complained, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I know sweetie."

"_Passengers for the flight 308 to London can begin to board now. Elders and families with small babies, make your way to the front of the line. Thank you."_

And just like that, the tired, sluggish Venturi's began moving.

"Get up, Nate." Marissa kicked the side of his leg as she stood up, stretching her arms over her head.

"Yeah, yeah." Came the annoyed reply as he swatted at her. Marissa huffed, stepping on his hand.

"Ouch!"

"Enough, both of you."

"He started it!"

"She started it!"

Casey just raised an eyebrow and walked past them. Olivia was trudging after her Mom, her small little legs looking like they could give way.

Derek, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand, shook his head at the two teenagers and grabbed the rest of their luggage. He hadn't even made it too where Casey and Olivia were waiting in line, before a purple blanket went flying through the air and smashed into a little Asian boy behind them. The boy screamed, Casey turned around and Derek ducked around several people and tried to get away from the disaster that was coming. The disaster being his and Casey's children...oh why did they bother to reproduce?

---

The flight went well. Surprisingly.

George was on time to pick the family up and Casey never complained about his poor healthy eating choices when he took them out to lunch at _Burger King. _

They arrived at the house around one in the afternoon and after being bombarded by hugs from Nora, they made their way inside the house. Casey breathed in deeply, unwrapping the scarf that was around her neck. The house smelt like it usually did around the holidays. Turkey, stuffing, scotch table and holly.

"It's so good to be home."

Nora positively beamed at that, ushering her eldest into the kitchen.

"I'm so glad you think so! This is your first Christmas in our new house isn't it?"

Casey nodded, looking around the room. They always celebrated they're big family Christmas on New Year's Eve. It is always basically impossible for Derek to find time off with all the games that take place in December, so the rest of the family waits until the next big holiday to get together.

"I guess it is."

Nora smiled again, and Casey couldn't help but notice how different she looked. Old wasn't the right word, but she seemed to be...aged. Wiser. Casey felt a tinge of sadness at the fact that she hadn't seen her Mom for over half of year. Time really does fly.

"Let me show you your room. You must be ready to relax and unpack. I thought it would also be easier if the kids just slept in the living room, so it's only yours and Derek's room."

Casey smiled and accepted, following her Mother out of the kitchen and down a hallway. The walls were lined with pictures and she couldn't help but smile at the photo of her Mom and George's wedding. The proud parents were standing in the middle, in front of a large white cake with their respected children on their sides. Everyone was smiling, well, Derek was giving Edwin bunny ears, but other than that, it was a good picture. She leaned in, looking closer at herself. Although she was smiling, the look in her eyes said it was clearly forced.

Nora must have noticed her stop because she came to stand beside her daughter.

"A lot of good came out of that day."

Casey turned towards her Mom.

"What do you mean?"

"Well because of George and I, there became you and Derek and Edwin and Lizzie. Then my beautiful gran-babies."

Casey chuckled. "I think Nate would have some rejections to being a baby."

Nora smiled, "He's like his Dad in that way."

---

The room was a good size and had a large bed with a deep red comforted. The chest of drawers in the corner, which Casey remembered last, seeing in Derek's teenage room, had stacks of towels on top.

"This is Derek's and your room. I figured I could call it that because it has so much of your things in it."

Casey looked around, noticing more than she did when she first walked in. The ballet pictures hanging on the wall and computer desk were all from her old room. There was a hockey banner thumb-tacked over the window that was from Derek's last high school game.

"It's great Mom, but you must have worked so hard though." Casey's voice was laced with concern and Nora waved it off, straightening the pillows on the bed.

"Don't even start with the hip thing, Casey. I'm fine, never been better. All my kids are going to be coming home, and that makes me very happy."

"Caroline is coming home, too?" Casey's eyes lit up at the mention of her half sister. Although all of the siblings loved her, none of them were really that close to her, apart from Marti since she was really the only child still at home while Caroline was growing up. Being the baby of the family, Caroline was incredibly spoiled and took up a lot of Nora and George's attention. She also had a reputation for the amount guys she had dated, which didn't help at all.

Nora grinned. "Yep, and she's been staying with a _friend_ for the last few months and I convinced her to bring him to supper tonight."

Casey squealed. "And is this _friend_ cute? Have you met him?" Nora shook her head with a frown.

"She's very good at keeping that part of her life a secret from me, which I don't like at all and she knows that."

"But she is bring him to dinner. That is a big improvement right?" Casey asked.

Nora nodded. "Of course it is. We'll have to see what he's like, I guess."

Casey nodded absently, feeling a little awkward. She really had missed a lot.

"Oh, Case. Before I forget, I have to tell you what happened the other day. You'll never guess who came over for tea."

"I have no idea."

"Emily! Emily Davis. You remember the one from high school?"

The look on Casey's face was one of panic.

"Casey? Case, honey?" Nora hurried over, pulling her daughter into a hug.

"I am so sorry; I should never have brought it up."

Casey shook her head. "No, it's fine Mom. It's probably better I know anyways."

Nora pulled back, smoothing Casey's hair back and giving her that loving Mother look. No matter how old they got, Casey always had the moments where she needed a Mom, and Nora had the moments where she needed to be a Mom.

"I'm going to go grab Derek. You wait her, okay sweetie?"

Casey made her way over to the bed, sitting on the edge. It was ridiculous for her to behave this way, but she couldn't help glancing down at the ring on her left hand.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Casey heard George call from the living room.

"I'm good, thanks."

And then Derek was there with Nora and about seven suitcases. Derek threw them down on the floor and leaned against the dresser stretching his arms over his head. He glanced around the room, a slow look of comprehension spreading over his features.

"This is my stuff!"

Nora smiled at him.

"Yep, yours and Casey's."

Derek looked at his wife a smirk on his face as he saw her sitting on the bed, the bed that they would be sharing for the whole week. The look on Casey's face brought him out of the frame of thought quickly though and he moved towards her.

"Case?"

"Derek," Nora began and he turned to look at his step-mom. "Emily came to visit me a little while ago."

His eyes narrowed. "What did she want?"

"She was asking about you both. How you got together, your kids. Your life right now, basically."

"Great." Casey murmured sarcastically.

"What did you tell her?" Derek demanded, feeling a little angry. This was getting ridiculous.

Nora shrugged. "Not a whole lot. I told her the story of how we found out you were together and that's about it. I honestly don't think it's that big of a deal. I think, if anything, Emily just needs some closure."

---

"She looks just like you did, Liz." Casey cooed as she looked at her new little niece. Bethany was sitting in her bassinet, eyes wide open as she took in the faces all around her.

Lizzie and Edwin arrived with Alex and Bethany shortly after Marti arrived.

---

"_Harrison really wishes he could come, but it's almost impossible for him to get time off around New Years." Harrison was Marti's boyfriend for the past three years and was one of the local policemen around London. _

_George nodded. "The crazy parties, huh?"_

"_Yeah, but he made me promise to bring home some of Mom's stuffing. He absolutely adores it and I can't say I blame him."_

_Nora grinned broadly at that, reaching her arms out to Marti and wrapping her in a hug._

"_It's good to see you, Marti."_

_---_

Marti tickled Bethany's little feet and all the women cooed when she kicked her auntie's hand away.

"I really want another one now." Casey sighed, gazing at Bethany with a dazed expression on her face.

"To bad that's not happening." Derek called to her from his spot on the couch. All the men were currently sprawled out on various pieces of furniture watching a hockey game.

Casey stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to her niece. Lizzie was lifting her up now, cradling her tiny daughter to her chest.

"Hold that pose! I'm going to grab my camera!" Nora stated quickly, hurrying out of the room. Marti just turned to Marissa and pulled out her cell phone, snapping pictures of Lizzie with it.

Marissa smirked at her Aunt. "Grandma is going to be all flustered when she gets back, you know."

Marti grinned. "Oh, I know."

The doorbell rang them and they all turned to look at the front door. No one moved.

"It's not locked, you know!" Edwin called finally and everyone listened to the door open.

"Caroline!" Nora called, seeing her as she was coming back with the camera. "You have got to come see Lizzie's baby. She is absolutely precious!"

Everyone turned to look at Caroline as she shuffled into the room.

"This is Quinn." She gestured to the man standing slightly behind her. He had short black hair, streaked with blonde and tiny glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose.

"Hello, Quinn." George stood up, grasping the arm of the couch to help push himself out. Derek and Edwin snickered. George went over to shake the young man's hand, smiling friendly. Nora had moved back over to her other daughters was now holding Bethany bouncing slightly, rocking her.

Quinn shook George's hand quickly before taking a step back, so he was slightly behind Caroline.

"Hello."

Everyone was staring at them, slightly perplexed. No one knew what to make of this. Caroline usually never went for guys like this.

"The sex must be good." Edwin mumbled and Derek smirked at the statement, watching the man squirm, half hidden behind his half-sister. No one said anything for a long time, and Derek was about ready to get up and leave this awkward conversation when his wife spoke.

"Caroline, your hair looks so good curled!" And she rushed over, wrapping her sister in a hug. Everyone began talking after that, back in their own little conversations. The men began talking about hockey and Bethany became the number one subject of the women.

"Thanks, Case!" Caroline smiled, returning the hug. Quinn was still standing behind her, but when Casey came over, he took a step back, giving them a lot of room.

Caroline pulled back, looking over at her boyfriend.

"Are you going to go watch hockey?"

Quinn looked alarmed, but with Caroline staring at him, he slowly slipped around her and Casey, and moved over to the couch. Derek scooted over to give him room and both he and Edwin continued to watch the game.

"You play for the _Flames_, right?" All heads turned to look at him and Quinn flushed a dark red, but kept his head up. Derek gave him another odd look before he answered.

"Yeah, I do."

Quinn breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's what I thought. I'm a big fan by the way. Not of the team, I like the _Maple Leaf's_ myself, but it's incredibly inspiring that you play hockey for the NHL and tha-"

Derek clapped him on the back and Quinn fell forward, almost losing his glasses.

"Thanks, Quinny."

---

"So, where did you meet him?" Marti asked. Nora had dragged Casey, Lizzie, Caroline and her into the kitchen to help with the final preparations for supper.

Caroline smiled. "Actually, he's my Math tutor."

"Really?" Nora asked, surprised.

"Yep." Caroline grabbed some cups out of the cupboard. "We just sort of hit it off. He's really shy so I didn't really have a clue what to talk to him about in the beginning, but when he heard my last name, he asked if I was related to Derek and I said yes. He is a huge hockey fan. Like a massive fan. So that gave us something to talk about, and it sort of just grew from there."

"Well I'm really happy for you Caroline. Quinn seems like a really nice guy."

"He is."

"Can we please have our New Years Eve meal now? I am starving out here!" A voice called from the dining room and all the women laughed.

"Let's get this party started!" Lizzie exclaimed, laughing.

---

It was around seven in the morning on New Year's Day. Bethany was fussing in the room next to his and Casey's, so after an hour of tossing and turning, Derek gave up and climbed out of bed.

The light was just streaming through the curtains and it cast a soft glow on the walls. His bare feet hit the carpet and he looked down at the pile of pyjamas that were disposed there last night. Casey had finally given into temptation and broke her rule.

Slipping them back on, he ran a hand through his messy hair, trying to flatten it out. The mattress squeaked behind him and he looked over at his still sleeping wife. It was hard to believe that they had made it to where they were now. High school, university, marriage, careers and three kids. It was hard to even fathom sometimes.

Casey was facing him now, looking like some angelic version of a Barbie doll. Derek smirked at the thought, knowing that if he was to ever mention that to her, he would have to sit through the longest lecture of feminism that would put even university professors to shame. Her mouth was open slightly and he gave a small smile- he had always teased her about her drooling. The long, curly mane was spread over all the pillows over the bed, and he watched as she unconsciously reached out and grabbed his pillow, pulling it closer to her chest.

God he loved her.

And then Bethany started to wail and he gave a sigh and turn on his heal and headed out of the room, closing the door as quietly as possible behind him.

The house was still, if you didn't count the whimpers coming from his brother and step-sister's bedroom. He hoped to God that Bethany wasn't going to be colicky. That was the last thing anyone here needed.

Derek stopped for a moment, in the middle of the hallway. He had no real idea where he intended on going. All the kids were still sleeping in the living room and waking them would cause...well, nothing pleasant would come out of it. The kitchen...he shook his head. There was no way he was going to be able to make himself anything to eat without stirring one of the youngsters. Grabbing his jacket from the hall closet, he made his way to the door and slipped on his boots.

It was snowing lightly outside, the kind of snowfall that always made him think of cotton candy when he was young. Christmas lights that some of the neighbour's hadn't gotten around to taking down yet twinkled and flashed bright colours that meshed in with the falling snow. Confetti and streamers littered a driveway down the street from his parents' house, no doubt the results from a New Years Eve party.

There was a little stone bench, sitting on the front porch, right next to the covered barbeque. Derek brushed the snow off the top of the black cover and slid it off, placing it over the bench's seat. It was a little chilly outside and his butt felt frozen, frozen enough for him to consider heading back inside to crawl back into bed with Casey and listen to the cries of his niece. But, Derek opted against it.

When his parents were in that terrible fighting stage right before they got the divorce, he remembered coming outside and doing what he was doing now. Getting away from the noise to be in peace and quiet. It gave him a chance to think.

The sound of the front door opening broke him out of his stupor and he turned, half expecting to see Casey or one of his kids. It surprised him when his brother stepped out, clad in his own winter gear and holding a blue coffee mug. Edwin let the door fall shut behind him and he made his way over to Derek.

"Mind if I join you?"

Derek shook his head, sliding over to make room for him. The substance in the mug was hot chocolate and Derek reached for it, taking a sip before Edwin could do anything. It burnt his tongue though, and Derek's face scrunched up in pain as he handed it back to him.

Edwin smirked. "Serves you right."

Derek turned to glare at him and Edwin's grin slowly slid off his face. Even now, with the maturity both had gained and the respect they had for one another, Derek still had big brother instincts and Edwin had little ones.

Edwin squirmed uneasily and glanced back towards the door, half looking like he was ready to make a dash back inside. Derek smirked to himself at how similar they were and bumped shoulders with him, deciding to let his little brother off the hook.

"Getting away from it all?"

Edwin nodded. "Yeah, sometimes you need to just...escape. Plus Lizzie was getting annoyed with my fidgeting while she was trying to calm Bethany down. She sent me out here."

Derek chuckled. "Sounds like Lizard. You're still agitating her to no end?"

"Oh yeah!" They both laughed and Derek realized how much he missed this. Being himself around his family.

The laugher died down and they both fell into a comfortable silence. The snow was still falling softly, but it seemed to be letting up some, Derek squinted at the sky in thought.

"What's it like?" He asked quietly, causing Edwin to look at him strangely.

"What's what like?"

"Being a Dad again." Derek clarified.

Edwin's face broke out into a wide grin. "Great! A lot more difficult, but great!"

"It wasn't difficult before?"

"Well it was," Edwin explained, "but it's always different. I mean, Alex was the quiet baby, he was the boy. Raising a boy is so much different from raising a girl. A boy is...easier, while a girl is more delicate- soft. I don't really know how to explain it."

Derek looked down the street, lights were flickering on and the houses were starting to buzz with moment; the world was waking up.

"I know what you mean."

---

_It was early in the morning, though how early, Derek wasn't exactly sure. The clock down the hall was ticking and it echoed in the hallways as he padded down towards the nursery. He pushed the door open and looked towards the crib in the center of the room, at his daughter._

_Marissa was sleeping soundly, lying on her back. Her face was tilted off to the side, towards him, and he felt his breath catch in his throat as he approached her. The pink pony mobile hanging above her bed was turning leisurely; the moon light was bouncing off it and onto his daughter bellow._

_Why did this all feel so new to him? He had a son; he had done all of the baby stuff before. Why was having a little girl so different?_

_His hand reached out on its own accord and brushed the top of Marissa's head. The light hair she had their was soft and he felt his chest inflate at the sight of her. He thought he had prepared himself for the act of fatherhood, but now that he actually had children, it was totally unlike what he had pictured. They were his children. His and Casey's._

"_Derek?" A voice whispered from the hallway._

_He didn't even turn around, he didn't half too. Casey's arms slipped around his waist and he felt her place a kiss to the back of his neck before shifting so she was beside him, arms still wrapped around his middle. _

_Marissa's little face seemed to scrunch up, like she felt her parent's eyes on her. She didn't wake up though, but just gave a tiny little sigh that made Casey "Awww" and Derek roll his eyes and smile._

"_What are you doing up?" Casey whispered, leaning into her husband._

_He shrugged, bumping her head with his shoulder. She poked him, giggling._

"_I had to come see her."_

"_She isn't going to disappear, D."It sounded harsh but he could hear the smile in her voice._

"_I know that. It's just...different now."_

_Casey looked up at him and after a moment, he looked down at her. Her face was tired and he knew she was still slightly in pain from the whole labour. _

"_How is it different?"_

_Derek shrugged again and she scowled at him. _

"_What happens when she starts liking boys? When you have to take her to buy bras? When she starts dating? Or when she gets her heart broken? There are so many things with girls that are so different with boys. Boys don't have to go through all of this initiation to womanhood shit."_

_Casey's mouth dropped open._

"_Hey, you weren't the easiest teen to live with on the block. Admit it." He stated smugly._

_Casey just looked back at their daughter and he laughed._

"_Shhhh! Don't wake her up!" Casey hissed at him._

_He laughed again, quieter. "Calm down. Mar is a Venturi and Venturi's can sleep through anything."_

"_Mar?"_

"_It fits doesn't it?"_

_She looked back at the sleeping little girl._

"_I guess it does."_

_The couple was silent, both thinking over the past events._

"_But don't you find it different?" Derek whispered, breaking the silence._

"_Having a boy and having a girl?"_

_Derek nodded._

"_Of course, Derek. Boys and girls are two complete different species that need to each be treated and raised differently."_

_Derek groaned._

"_We're going to be grey haired before we're forty."_

_---_

"Daddy?"

Both men turned to see Alex peeking out from the front door.

"Mommy is calling for you. She said to hurry fast."

Edwin rolled his eyes with a grin and stood up, scooping his laughing boy up in his arms and carrying him inside.

---

When Derek got inside, he was greeted by his daughter, who literally grabbed his arm from around the corner and dragged him into the living room. He barely had a chance to kick off his boots.

"You _have_ to see this! You won't believe me otherwise!"

He grabbed the hand on his arm, peeling it off.

"Okay, okay. Breathe, Mar."

Marissa dove onto the couch, grabbing her pink laptop off the floor and hastily typing and clicking.

Derek sat down next to her hesitantly, peering over her shoulder to see the screen. Marissa was on her email account, scrolling down the list of messages.

"Here!" She cried, clicking on it with such vigour that Derek thought she might break her laptop.

_Sent yesterday at 9:05pm_

_Hey Marissa, it's Emily._

_I don't know if you remember me, but I met you at that business conference back in December. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be heading up to Alberta soon to do some research for a new product for my company. If you all aren't too busy, maybe I could stop in?_

_Write back soon!_

_Emily D._

"I was just checking my email this morning and this popped up and I have no idea what to do!"

Derek read over the email once more before looking at Marissa. She was biting her bottom lip, twirling the chain around her neck with her finger.

"This isn't your fault, Mar." He told her softly, sensing her nervousness and guilt.

Marissa shook her head, the short, reddish brown ponytail swinging.

Derek was about to comment when his wife walked in the room, dressed in pyjamas now, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand.

"Morning."

Derek and Marissa just looked at her.

"What happened?" Casey said slowly, making her way across the room.

"Emily emailed and wants to come visit us, back home, sometime in the future." Marissa said flatly.

"What?!" Casey screeched, dropping to her knees near the couch.

"That's what I said!" Marissa echoed, turning the screen around so her Mom could see.

Casey scanned over the message before letting her head fall to Derek's knee. His fingers quickly began running through her hair, trying to calm her.

"Why is this happening?"

"Case, babe." Derek started, "We already talked about this at home and last night. Emily is not going to do anything to this family unless we let her. I say, let her come. Let her see what she wants to see and maybe she'll stop causing you stress."

Casey's head shot up. "You cannot be serious!"

"It makes sense, Case. She just needs closure, like Nora said. Her high school best friend married her elementary, high school and university crush_ and_ ex-boyfriend. She needs to recognize what all has changed, and for her to do that, she needs to see it."

Casey looked deflated, and Derek slipped his hand around the back of her neck, tugging her head so it was resting back on his knee. "It will all work out and you know that." He told her soothingly. Casey didn't even look up; she just reached up and tapped her daughter's knee.

"Write a reply."

Derek and Marissa shared a look before Marissa began typing an email. Emily was coming over.

* * *

_Du, Du, Dumm. Let me know what you thought of this please!_

_xoxoTaraxoxo_


	8. Hello Goodbye

Aloha! Well, I'm back from my sunny spring break in Hawaii and I came up with this for Chapter 8. I know it's a little shorter than all the other ones of mine, but I hope it's still good and you all enjoy it. I finished this at, well basically 4am so I appologize for any large, gramical errors. Please let me know if there are any bad ones.

_And have you all seen the Vacation with Derek trailer? If not, go find it on youtube. I don't think it's going to have to much Dasey in it, but we're going to have to make do with what we got. Besides, there are probably hundreds of stories and compositions that can be written about the Venturi family on holidays._

_Disclaimer: If I owned this lovely show, Vacation with Derek would turn out a lot different and Mike would have kept his adorable long hair._

* * *

In all honesty, Emily would say her day had been going pretty well. The flight from Ontario to Alberta went smoothly. The woman she was seated next to had a small, baby girl that Emily got to hold and coo over almost the entire trip there. It also was nice that the cute steward delivering cookies and drinks flashed a brilliant smile when he got to her and as he handed her the diet soda, his fingers brushed hers and he winked.

Emily grinned back at him, sipping her drink and following him with her eyes as he pushed the cart forward, down the small aisle.

The landing, which was always the worst for her, went exceptionally smooth and when she saw the seatbelt sign flicker off, she quickly slipped out of her seat, grabbing her carry-on suitcase from the overhead compartment. The woman with the baby also had a bag in the cubicle, and Emily grabbed that too, and placed it next to her.

As everyone crowded off the plane, the steward, who she now realized was called Ian, handed her a thin slip of paper.

"Just in case you need a tour guide or something while you're in the area." He gave her a breezy smile and she felt her stomach flip.

The interview with the scientists went by fast. Emily had managed to get more than enough information for the article and when she called Jane back to report how it went, her boss was...oddly enough, not eating.

"So it's still alright if I take the next few days off. Spend the time here and visit a few...old friends?"

"Of course Emily. It's your days off. Oh, but dear, do remember to finish writing the article and send me a copy, will you?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Yes Jane."

"And if you're in the area..." She trailed off and the sounds of papers shuffling filled Emily's ear.

"Found it!" Jane bellowed and Emily jumped, nearly dropping her cell phone.

"Okay. Now dear, if you are anywhere near... _Sergio's Delights_ please stop in and grab me a box of his Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies. I have the address here somewhere..." There was sounds of more paper, then the keyboard keys clacking and finally some heavy beeping, which obviously meant someone was paging the large woman.

"Sorry, Emily, but Bess is calling for me and I can't keep her waiting. She is my personal secretary, you know."

"Yes," Emily sighed. "I know who she is Jane."

"Good, good. This is all good...but there's something...oh right, the address! Well honey I guess if you want it that bad I'll have Bess send it to your phone. She's better at that texting anyways. I don't know how her fingers can hit each of the buttons without hitting any other ones." She sounded amazed by this and Emily rolled her eyes once again. The woman's fingers were the sizes of sausages, and the keys were the sizes for people with...well...small fingers. No wonder she found it extremely difficult.

"No Jane. It was you who wanted me to-"

"Glad I could help, honey!"

Jane hung up and Emily, as much as she detested her boss's annoying habits and ways, couldn't find it in herself to be upset. The day was just going too well and it wouldn't pay to spoil it.

Grabbing the rental's keys out of her bag, she opened her car and climbed inside. It was still early morning and she hadn't eaten since the cookies on the plane. Placing the key in the ignition, Emily pulled out of the parking lot of the science building and headed downtown for a quick breakfast, before she made her way to Calgary.

---

The blue Honda flew down the interstate. Emily had her sunglasses on and the windows rolled down as she breathed in the warm spring air that seemed to finally be flowing throughout Canada. There was a large map spread over the dashboard and Emily's bag was on the passenger seat. A coffee cup, half empty was residing in the cup holder and every time she hit a particularly bumpy spot on the road, she glanced down, praying nothing would have spilt or slopped over. The last thing she needed was to be paying extra because of a mess.

An old Britney Spears song, from back when Emily was a teenager, filled the car. Keeping one hand on the wheel and her eyes on the traffic around her, Emily fumbled in her purse until she clutched her cell phone. It could only be one person.

"I'm driving right now, Helena."

"Doesn't mean you can't talk _and_ drive."

"That's dangerous."

"So? You're a talented girl, you can do both. I have faith in you."

Emily checked her mirrors before speeding up to pass a delivery truck.

"What do you need?"

Helena made a tsking sound. "No need to sound so snappy. I called to see how your flight was. Do you finally see what a good, caring friend I am? Don't answer that. But do tell how the flight was. Any cute boys catch your eye?"

Emily felt herself smile. "One. This steward named Ian. He even gave me his number."

Helena squealed. "That's fantastic Em! See, what did I tell you? This whole trip would be good for you. I told you that and I was right. You found a guy who makes decent money and is interested in you. Win!"

"Should I call him?"

"Yes! Well, not right now. You're driving and that's no time to set up a date."

"Helena." Emily said, cursing under her breath as a man on a Harley cut in front of her.

"Plus, you're going to go see Derek and Casey Venturi. Leave Ian out of the picture until this is all settled."

And right then, Emily felt the familiar nerves settle in her stomach.

"This is a mistake." She told her friend.

"What? Emily, what are you talking about? This is what you wanted to find out. This is what you made me go all Nancy Drew for just to figure out all the answers. This is not a mistake- you're going through with it."

"I should have just let it drop. Why did I cling on to this? Why am I so clingy?" Emily moaned, closing her eyes.

"Emily!" Helena's voice cut her ramble. "Watch the road and listen." Sometimes Helena knew her too well.

This is an experience that is going to make you stronger. You need to do this, I need you to do this, and so do they. You are doing this. Just think of the experience like...a pimple. There is beauty and smooth skin behind the painful mark, you just need to use the right steps and it will heal. No scar, no harm."

Emily was quiet for a second. "That was one of the most twisted ways I have ever heard you explain something."

"I have many talents." Helena said proudly.

"What in the entire world, made you think of that?"

Helena sighed. "Jane assigned me to the _Acne Angel _part again for this month. I've been doing research on different types of cleansers and scrubs. It's been in my mind all day. I could give you the ratio's for clogged pores in woman under thirty and over if you wanted."

Emily made a face. "Ugh. No thanks."

Helena's voice dropped lower and took a more serious tone.

"Emily...she made me make a pie chart."

"Jane did?" That was a shocker.

"Well, not technically. Bess is pushing the idea of going over everything with all the staff and having a big annual meeting so everyone can review it instead of just the few people. We all need to document and colour code all of our notes and findings. God, you are so lucky you aren't here right now."

"I wish I was anywhere but here doing anything but this. I am never letting you talk me into sending any emails like that ever again."

"I didn't think they would say it was okay! I didn't even think they'd reply back."

Emily groaned and Helena made an irritated sound. There were other voices then, talking to her friend on the other line.

"I'm sorry Em but I have to go. It's time for the _meeting_. Now please, try to keep a levelled head and make sure you eat some sort of salad before you go see them. I've always found that calmed my stomach before I did any big sports event."

"Alright. Thanks." Emily exhaled, but it sounded a little shaky.

"This is the right thing to do and I know you'll handle this well. Bye Em."

"Talk to you later."

She closed her phone and held it in her hand. The buildings of Calgary were looming in the distance, the sun shining off their windows and creating some interesting patterns of light. She was a big girl, she could handle this. I mean, what was she so nervous about anyways?

---

After a quick lunch at McDonalds (she did have a salad like Helena suggested, but she figured she might as well get some chicken nuggets too) and a stop at that tacky dessert shop Jane insisted upon, Emily was headed out of the city.

The address Marissa had emailed her was for a road out of town about twenty minutes. It still seemed to Emily like it was a nice neighbourhood, although the houses weren't nearly as close. Pulling out of the heavy traffic, she turned down a paved road that lead off into the trees.

She drove in silence for a short while, her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly she thought her knuckles would break through the skin. Her palms were sweaty and the nervous flipping in her stomach was going full force. It got to the point where she regretted ordering those nuggets.

But before she could do anything, a big stone sign with the words _Sunny Side Spot _carved into it was off to the side of the road. What looked like flower beds, but you couldn't tell because of the snow still lingering on the ground, were all around the large rock and some sort of solar light was in front of it, so even at night you could still read what it said.

This was the place.

The houses she past were well spaced with plenty of trees in between them. In fact it was around every two minutes driving before she would see one and all were spaced on each side of the road so well it had to be some sort of project.

They were huge, well, not mansion in L.A. huge, but they were good sized houses that looked very newly made. Some had large porches that wrapped around the entire house; some had hot tubs. One even looked to have an ice rink with boards and a wrap around net as well, but there were pine trees around it, so it was hard to tell. Either way, this was a ridiculously nice neighbourhood.

The directions said it was about ten minutes down and then there was a long driveway on the right hand side. Plus there was some sort of sign by the road that said Venturi. Emily slowed her car down, looking at the piece of paper she had printed off. She should have reached it by now.

"I probably missed it." Getting ready to turn around, her eyes caught the large wooden sign that was just peaking around the next corner. She edged the vehicle a little closer.

_Venturi_

---

When she had finally opened the car door and walked up the stone steps to the door, she was already feeling anxious. It was stupid and probably immature in one thousand ways, but she tugged at her shirt and ran a finger under her lips, checking for lipstick marks. Her hair was probably a mess and she cursed herself for not bringing a headband or a ponytail. Something to tie it back.

She knocked on the door.

It swung open.

And Emily was smacked in the face by a yellow happy face, helium balloon.

"Olivia! What did I tell you about that thing?" A voice yelled from somewhere inside the house.

Emily looked down to see a small little girl. Her hair was done up in two braids and she smiled a missing teeth smile. The deadly balloon was tied to her wrist and she was fiddling with the string.

"I'm sorry."

Emily smiled down at her. "It's not a problem. I mean, it's not every day you get greeted by a happy face."

The little girl giggled and Emily was reminded of Marti. All the times she would come over to her house and play with Dimi, she always acted like that. A little younger and more childish than she actually was. She pulled the door open more and ushered Emily inside.

She barely had a chance to look around before Casey came out of a room to Emily's right. She looked a lot like how Emily remembered her. Wavy brown hair and blue eyes, with a top notch dancing figure that she always felt sort of envious about in high school. Casey was tall and slim while she was short and curvy. She looked good. You would never know, if you saw her on the street, that she was the mother of three and was almost forty.

"Emily, hi." Casey nodded towards her and Emily couldn't help but notice her voice sounded a little wary too. This wasn't going to be easy for either of them. "I'm sorry about all of this. Wednesday is our shopping day and we were just putting everything away. They were giving these out at the store and Olivia has been abusing it ever since." She shot a strong look towards her youngest.

"If you don't stop whacking things and people inside this house, I'm going to go tie that balloon up in one of those trees out there and let Nate use it as a shooting target."

Olivia pushed her lower lip out into a pout. "But Mom," She whined and Casey shook her head.

"None of that. Now go put it in your room and leave it in there."

Olivia looked like she very much wanted to argue that request, but when Casey motioned to the trees outside; she huffed and trudged up the wooden stairwell.

Marissa came around the corner carrying a pineapple. "What do you want me to do with this Mom?"

Casey turned around, giving her eldest a tired smile. "I'll be there in a second." She turned back towards Emily and motioned to the room off to the left.

"That's the living room. If you wouldn't mind waiting in there for a few minutes so we can put all the groceries away..." Casey trailed off.

"No problem."

Casey still stood there, and Emily didn't know whether to head off towards the living room or just stand there. Casey opened her mouth, looking like she was about to say something but then she must have changed her mind and decided on something else. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No thanks."

There was a pregnant pause.

"Okay then. I'll be back in a few..." Casey motioned to behind her and started to back up, looking confused.

"Alright."

And then Emily turned, and headed off towards the living room. It was a quaint room with nicely painted walls and sleek new furniture. A flat screen TV stood off in one corner and a couple couches and recliners were faced around it.

Emily sat down on the long couch, facing the television with the big window behind her. The sun was still shining down outside and she tried to take this as a good omen. It was fairly quiet in the house except for the sound of cupboards opening and closing and the quiet murmur as Casey and Marissa chatted with each other.

The walls were covered with pictures and photos and other things that had some memorabilia. A _Calgary Flames _jersey was hanging above the TV.

There was a picture that was taken on a beach somewhere. Marissa and Nathan looked to be around five and six and they were busy making a sandcastle. Olivia was lying on her stomach a little ways away from them, her little baby face was pointed towards her siblings as she watched them.

The next one was of Casey and Marissa, both wearing slinky dancing dresses as they smiled at the camera. Casey's arm was wrapped around Marissa's shoulders as her daughter held a bouquet of roses and had a metal around her neck. A dancing competition no doubt.

The next one made Emily's heart clench in a weird way. There was Derek, the older Derek standing in the middle of a hockey rink in his NHL jersey and hockey gear. His hear was all matted down from sweat and he looked exhausted but happy. There were people filling the stands and flowers covered the ice. Next to him was Casey, his arm was wrapped around her waist and they were both leaning against each other. All the kids stood around them and they all had huge smiles on their faces with pride in their eyes.

Then, there was the last one. Casey stood in a beautiful white dress, her hair done up so some ringlets fell down around her face. Derek stood next to her in a black tux, his hair was shorter than she remembered seeing in high school, but it still had that messy look to it that she knew he worked on it to get it that way.

The couple was looking at each other leaning in just close enough to kiss, so close, before the photographer snapped the photograph. Now they were stuck in that moment, that happy moment plastered on the wall of their living room for visitors to look at.

"All done." Casey announced as she came into the room. She sat down on the love seat that was facing Emily. It was quiet for a moment and Emily watched as Casey straightened her skirt after sitting down, obviously trying to figure out some way to start a conversation.

"So, how have you been?" She came out with, at last.

Emily shrugged. "Good, I guess. Work's been a pain; I haven't had a break in the longest time so it's nice to get away from it all."

"Where do you work?" Casey asked curiously.

"I'm sort of...well an editor I guess for _Blush and Things. _That's why I'm in Alberta originally, there is some sort of mineral found and it could be the cure for dry skin or something."

Casey bent down and began shifting through a small stack of magazines sitting on the coffee table. She pulled out a fairly thin, pink one. The October's edition of _Blush and Things._

"You write in this?"

Emily nodded, taking it from her hands and flipping to page twenty two.

"I wrote that article, yes."

Casey looked at it once more, eyes scanning the page, before she closed it and slipped it back in the stack. "I had no idea you worked for this magazine. Well, I knew you did some sort of job in that field because you met Mar in an editors party."

"Yeah. It's no big job but it pays fairly well after a couple of years. It's been good."

It was quiet again. Emily looked around the room, feeling even more like a fool. This was solving a lot. Finally her eyes landed on the dancing picture of her and Marissa.

"Is that a dancing competition?"

Casey looked at the picture and smiled. "Yes. Marissa's first big competition. She placed silver in the whole province. We were all very proud of her."

"So what do you do?"

"Well," Casey began. "I opened a small ballet studio with a friend before I had Nathan. I couldn't do any teaching because I got pregnant soon afterwards, but I kept up the bills and files. Anyways, eventually we got a lot more students and had to open up additional classes. And after a while, we bought a larger building and redid it into a high class studio and we've been there ever since."

Emily smiled, because that sounded like the future she would have thought of for Casey. It was so typical.

"So Marissa followed in her Moms footsteps?"

Casey gave a small smile. "I guess so. She teaches some of the little, beginner classes' afterschool too."

"She's impressive." Emily said.

"They all are." Casey agreed.

"What about Derek?"

The question came out a lot sooner than Emily had planned for it to, and even Casey looked a little stunned.

"What do you mean?" She fiddled with the wedding ring on her left hand and Emily tried not to stare at the massive rock on her finger.

"Well, you and Derek..."

"Oh." Was all Casey said.

She was silent for a while and Emily felt like a bitch for even mentioning him.

"I don't know what you want me to say Emily." She finally said. "Yes, I love him. I married him and started a life and family with him."

"No, I mean..." Emily floundered, trying to find the right words. "I just was...wanting...just why?"

"Why?" Casey questioned.

"Why, after all those years of you putting up with him in high school, of hating him and all he stood for. Why did you go after him?"

"I never really went after him." She spoke quietly. "I didn't hate him, but I did hate what he did in high school, yes. But it was...university is a different world. I didn't know anyone else and I was far away from my Mom and Lizzie and all my other friends and family. Life was complicated and confusing. School wasn't what I thought it would be at first, and that scared me. I didn't have a clue who else to turn too, so I sort of stuck to Derek. We became good friends, all through out that summer before school started- at the lake on the big vacation Mom and George brought us on. When school started, it was sort of inevitable, really. We knew something was happening, we could feel it and then one day we sort of just...collided."

Emily blinked.

"And you've been together ever since?"

Casey shook her head, laughing. "Oh no. I hated it at first. I felt like I was slowly sinking into quicksand and I was perfectly capable of getting myself out if I tried hard enough. I struggled against him and the whole thing he wanted with me and he fought me until finally after three, almost four months of silly teasing and ridiculous strong headed, stubbornness, I sort of gave up fighting him and just accepted that he wasn't going to let me get out of the sand. I had to stop struggling because it was somehow only pulling me in deeper. It was time to just suck it up and live with it."

Emily laughed in spite of herself and eventually, Casey joined in and it almost felt like old times, back in high school when they would have a girl's night full of chick flicks and cookie dough ice cream.

"That is so you and Derek." She wiped tears from around her eyes. "You fought him on it? Really?"

"I still fight him on it. He thinks it's because of him we are where we are today. I don't agree with him."

They chuckled some more and Emily felt herself relaxing. Casey hadn't changed all that much and neither had she. They still had that easy friendship that just worked. It made her feel sad that all of this had disappeared and gone over the years and been neglected.

And then a car door slammed somewhere outside. Emily turned, glancing out the window as Derek and Nathan climbed out of a shiny black truck. They were talking about something because all of a sudden Derek laughed his loud, boisterous laugh and bent down, scooping up some snow and playfully tossing it at his son. Nate laughed and ducked as it his Dad's car.

They both had hockey bags over their shoulders and were making their way over to the house. Emily felt a wave of panic.

The door opened and the laughter and voices filled the house. They dropped their stuff in the entrance way and took off their coats. Emily listened to the sounds of zippers unzipping and boots being stamped.

Nathan must have been done first because he zipped into the living room, kissed Casey's cheek and told her a brief hello before darting out again and running up the stairs.

Then Derek walked into the room with his back to Emily, still shaking his head and chuckling to himself.

"You won't believe what that little runt did at practice today." He bent down to kiss her and Emily swallowed, looking at the floor. What a way to make an entrance.

"Um," Casey mumbled as Derek pulled back a little. "Derek..." He slowly stopped kissing her jaw and turned around.

"Well...um...Hi, Derek." Emily gave a weak little wave.

* * *

_Well we all know Derek can be a little oblivious to some things. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There should be about two more to come. Have a wonderful Easter everyone!_

_God Bless!_

_xoxoTaraxoxo_


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